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what-is-your-plan-today · 5 years

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Stark Spangled Banner Ch8: Old Friends, Not So New Tricks

Summary: When a familiar face turns up asking for Katie’s expertise she finds herself confronted by another familiar face, this one being one she would rather forget...

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bit of bad language in this one, nothing mega. Bit of blood… and the return of an old favourite.

Flashbacks depicted in italics. Oh and MAJOR SPOILER ALERT IF YOU AINT SEEN AGENTS OF SHIELD!!

Note- I read a fic on here not long ago that used Trapt-Only One in Color as a song. It happens to be my fave and was also my wedding song, so I’ve used it here too.

November 2013

There’s a fine line between success and failure. And that last mission had well and truly teetered its way along the edge. The team had been split up after a catastrophic coms failure leaving Katie and Evans badly compromised. They had just about got the situation under control after some quick thinking from Katie and very sharp shooting from Evans, when Steve had broken every protocol in place and had basically run head first into a gun fire to get them out, putting himself in danger and Katie was livid at him.

“We had it under control!” she said, her voice raised as she stormed through the corridor away from the hangar, people turning to look. They’d been arguing about it all the way home.

“Yeah, it didn’t look like it from where I was standing…”

“Damned it Steve…” she spun to face him, “You weren’t standing anywhere, you were running, head first into the crossfire without even thinking about what was going on…”

“The last thing I heard was that you were surrounded…”

“This is EXACTLY what I don’t want you to do!” she said, groaning as she ran her hands over her face “Run in there without a second thought for your own damned safety or anyone else’s…”

“What do you mean anyone else?” his nostrils flared.

“You left Rumlow and Rollins completely uncovered!” she shook her head “To come and save me…I’m not a fucking princess that needs rescuing Steve…”

“Don’t talk to me like that!” his voice was loud now.

“I’ll talk to you how I want!” she snapped “You know everyone gossips enough about us as it is and we’re almost 7 months down the fucking line…”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“And yet you STILL give them fuel!” she threw her hands out to the side, bringing them back down to her combat outfit clad sides with a slap “Oh look at Nova, needs her Super Soldier Boyfriend to bail her out…”

“For the last time…” he began but she completely ignored him.

“If you can’t remain objective when we work together then maybe we shouldn’t be on the same team.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t if that’s how you feel!” He practically snarled, as he took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders back as his hands dropped to his belt buckle, eyes blazing.

“Glad we understand one another” Katie spat back, before turning on her heel and heading towards the armoury to change, ignoring his shouts.

****

After debrief, for the first time in ages Steve left work alone. He was in a foul mood, and practically wrenched his apartment door off its hinges. In part his bad mood was down to Katie’s attitude, but in others it was at himself because deep down he knew she was right. He’d lost it when he’d heard she was in trouble and hadn’t been able to do anything else but rush in there to make sure she was ok. It was ridiculous, she was a trained agent with a shot on her like you wouldn’t believe, and the amount of times they’d been in bad situations before…but something today, something about the way she’d sounded on the radio had gotten to him and he’d abandoned all thoughts of professionalism and gone after his girl.

Sighing he threw his keys down on the kitchen side and grabbed a beer from the fridge before making his way into the living room, kicking off his shoes. He dropped onto the sofa and let out a loud moan of frustration, his head lolling back against the cushions. He hated that they’d rowed, this was the first big one they’d actually had. Sure they quibbled about small things, the fact he made her sleep on the right hand side of the bed at his because it was furthest away from the door (just in case anyone got in) the way he was a bit of a neat freak and when she did stay for more than a night his apartment looked like a whirlwind had been through it (Ok, he didn’t actually mind that so much in truth) the way she tried on every fucking outfit she owned before they went out (maybe not every outfit, but close enough…) the way he often went for a run first thing in the morning and she’d get pissed he wasn’t there when she woke up because…well, because….but all that was stuff he adored. The normal part of being with someone you were comfortable sharing your life with.

As he took a pull from his bottle his eyes rolled to the right and fell on the large photo frame on his wall. It was one she had made him for his birthday.

“Open the big one first…” she instructed, nodding to the gifts that were piled on his sofa.

He did as he was told without saying a word, picking it up and resting it on his lap. It felt like a large photo frame. As he peeled back the wrapping paper he realised that’s exactly what it was. It was large, glossy pine edges to match the furniture in his apartment, filled with photos of him all from his life before the ice and his eyes grew large as he took in the faces that looked back up at him. There was a photo of him and Bucky as kids, another as teenagers, then one of them in the army- the one of them laughing that Katie had said she loved. His eyes began to mist over as he saw a few shots of his parents, at their wedding in Ireland, on the steps of their flat at Brooklyn, one of him and his mom when he was a small boy, then he spotted one of him and Howard along with various shots of him with the Howling Commandos and finally one of him, Colonel Chester Phillips and Peggy. And at the bottom of the frame, on a silver plaque was engraved a quote from the Wizard of Oz- ”A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”

“I thought it was a shame to just keep them in a box…” Katie said gently as she sat next to him “I wanted you to see them every day and remember you meant as much to them as they did or do to you…”

His fingers trailed over the various faces in the frame as the memories flooded his brain and he felt a lump in his throat at the wave of nostalgia crossing over him, and also at the utter thoughtfulness that had gone into her gift..

“I picked what I thought were the nicest ones…” she continued and he was aware her tone was growing nervous. “But we can swap them if…”

“Katie…” his voice was croaky as he cut her off and looked up at her. He was right, she was biting her lip, worried that she had upset him but nothing could be further from the truth. He moved to take her face in his hands and he kissed her, hard. He pulled away and looked at her speaking with utter honesty and sincerity “This is amazing…thank you.”

His eyes dropped from the wall to a smaller frame on the sideboard, this one contained a photo of him and Katie a ‘selfie’ of the two of them at the Top of the Rock, taken when they had gone back to New York to visit Tony one weekend in October. He loved it, the pair of them grinning like idiots, Katie wearing a baby blue sparkly beany and matching scarf, her smile genuine and him looking like a loves-struck idiot, pressing a kiss to her cheek as he glanced at the camera. She had the same photo in her living room too.

No, he couldn’t go to bed without sorting this out. Abandoning his half-drunk bottle of Sam Adams, he shoved his shoes back on, grabbed his keys and headed out.

****

Katie didn’t even stay for debrief, more to piss Steve off than anything. It was petty, yes but she was absolutely raging at him. Their relationship had been the talk of the Triskellion for months, and for that reason, they had behaved nothing but professionally on missions, wanting to prove to not only everyone they worked with, but to themselves that they could remain objective in their work and that them being together wouldn’t compromise the way they behaved in the field.

And now he had fucked that.

She ignored his call which came just as she got home and throwing her phone onto the sofa she grabbed a glass of wine and ran herself a bath, turning her music up loud. She lay back under the bubbles, gently humming along to the music. Music was her thing to calm down to. She’d always played piano, right from the age of 4 when her mom had taught her, and she loved to sing when she got the change to that was.

The mellow sounds of John Legend’s Ordinary People faded into the opening notes of Only One In Color by Trapt, and Katie paused, smiling. This song took her years back, to nights in London with colleagues in bars, and then a concert in Orlando in 2009…and Steve, it took her back to Steve and one rainy afternoon in August.

I’ve been searching all my life I used to be so color blind You opened up my eyes Do you wanna share your dreams See a different side of me You’re everything I need

Katie danced around, folding laundry and dropping it into the basket as she sang, loudly. It had been ages since she’d done this, just danced around her apartment like an idiot. She turned round to grab the final load out of the machine and screamed as Steve was stood in the doorway, arms folded, leaning against the frame, that annoyingly cute smirk on his face.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Jesus, how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough” he grinned, crossing the room and wrapping his arms around her. He nuzzled into her neck and the two of them stood there, still, listening to the song that was playing.

“What is it?” he asked her.

“Its by a band called Trapt. It’s called Only One In Color” she replied, turning her head to look at him. “it kinda reminds me of you actually.”

Steve smiled as they listened for another second before he moved back, spun her round and pulled him to her.

“Dance with me.”

“What, here? In my apartment?”

“Our own private ballroom.” he shrugged.

“You’ve never danced before.” Katie said, looking at him “You told me.”

“I know, Peggy was right…” he took a deep breath and looked at me “I was waiting for the right partner. So, what do you say? Teach me?”

“You know I don’t really know a lot of steps…” she felt a smile spread across her face as she stepped forward to take the hand that he had offered. Steve placed his free hand on the curve of her waist and Katie began to lead them around on the spot, her right hand held in his left, her left curling up and over his right shoulder. She watched Steve, who was concentrating so hard that his brows pinched together slightly, a look that was incredibly endearing.

“Stop over thinking it…” she said gently, looking up at him. “Listen to the music and just let go.”

You turned an old world upside down A wave of calm when I was so tightly wound And so full of doubt I’ll never tell you that two’s a crowd I know I can’t get through without Ever needing you around

A short while later a smile began to pull on his lips as he found a rhythm and he raised his head and Katie grinned and squeezed the hand that she held.

“It’s not that hard is it?” she giggled. Steve returned the grin and shook his head.

“Surprisingly not,” he admitted. They continued to revolve around the space of her large living room to the song, and Katie lay her head on his chest, his face turned down slightly so his cheek was resting against her hair. After a minute or so she felt him move and instinctively she looked up and could do nothing but smile as they stopped dancing and their mouths drifted closer together. Her hand slipped up, fingers stretching themselves into the short hair at the nape of his neck as his lips met hers, his hand creeping across her back, his palm pressed firmly against her spine.

They never made it to the bedroom, they made it as far as the couch before they were both naked and going at it like a couple of horny fucking teenagers. And since then it had been ‘their’ song.

Katie sighed and drained her wine glass before she set about washing her hair and climbed out of the bath. She dressed in a pair of shorts and a hoodie before pulling her damp hair back into a French braid. She had just settled on the sofa to watch TV when the buzzer to her apartment went. Picking up her phone to look at the security camera she took a deep breath and realised it was Steve.

“Sweetheart let me in. My key card is at home.”

No response.

“I’m not going till you do, you know I could do this all day. Or all night.”

No response.

“I mean it’s a pretty interesting buzzer.”

He grinned as he heard a click and the door opened to the lobby. He selected the floor to the elevator and the button turned green signalling she’d answered that call too. He walked into the apartment and found her on the sofa, what looked like Brooklyn Nine-Nine paused on the TV.

“You were gonna watch this without me?” he said gently, dropping down next to her.

“Yes.” she said simply, her arms folded.

He fought the smile spreading across his face at her childishness. He knew if she was mad the worst thing he could do was laugh at her and make her think he wasn’t taking her seriously. Instead, he took a deep breath and turned so he was facing her on the couch, arm resting along the back.”

“I know you’re pissed at me.” he said, “But come on Doll, I hate fighting with you.”

“Then stop being a dick” she snarked back. Steve took a deep breath and looked at her as she continued “You know what it’s like at work, everyone has constantly analysed everything I do because, hello, Howard Stark’s daughter, and today…”

She trailed off and Steve looked down at his hands. “I know. I didn’t mean to make it look like you couldn’t handle yourself.”

They fell into silence and Katie sighed, deciding to meet him half way. She knew he hadn’t meant to make her feel like he had. There was also a part of her that had been scared. Not just for her and Evans, but seeing Steve rush in, headfirst with no regard for his own safety just to get to her.

“You need to trust me when I’m out there.” she said, her voice was softer, devoid of her earlier anger.

“I do trust you, you know that.” He said, looking up at you. “But I’m not gonna apologize for looking out for you, sweetheart. It’s my job. Both as your Captain and your man.”

"I get that, I do…” Katie sighed, “But you put yourself in danger today, running straight into the middle of a fire fight…can you imagine what I’d have done if you’d have been…”

She trailed off, swallowing and took a deep breath before she continued and her words hit Steve. He hadn’t considered she had felt as worried about him as he had her. “We have to remain objective, and if that means you can’t just abandon the team for me.”

“I know, you’re right, I’m sorry.” he said finally.

She looked at him and took a deep breath, the anger dissipating at his apology and moved to give him a hug, her arms round his shoulders as he wrapped his around her back and pulled him to her.

“I’m sorry for reacting the way I did.” she sighed as she lay her cheek on his chest.

“Forgiven?” he asked and she looked up at him, he was giving her his puppy dog eyes. She rolled her own, she couldn’t stay mad at him, especially when there was a small part of her that couldn’t help but adore the fact he cared so deeply for her that he’d rush in, head first with no regard for anything else.

Grinning she picked up the remote and pressed play on the episode that was waiting on the TV.

“Guess so.” he chuckled, settling himself down on the couch before she crawled over and lay down along the cushions, her head in his lap.

*****

Katie hadn’t been in the office for 5 minutes the next morning when she got a message to say Fury wanted to see her. In the years she had known the director, she still found it hard to get a read on him and this time was no exception. She stepped into his office and he nodded to her, and without a word got straight to business, leading her over to the screen on the wall by the sofas.

“I was wondering what you made of this.” He said nodding to the large screen on the wall. The photo displayed was of a tree trunk, cut in half and running down the middle was a long, tube like shape, with some markings on it. The photo zoomed in and Katie frowned.

“These look like the markings on Thor’s hammer.”

“Funny you should say that.” Fury said, “because the Spectrographic signatures match the readings from Thor’s hammer too.”

“So whatever was in that tree was Asgardian?” Katie asked

Fury nodded.

“That’s a trunk from a Norwegian spruce in Trillmarka National Park, Norway.”

“Figures” she said.

“How do you mean?” Fury looked at her.

“The legends of Thor, they all have origins in Norway. When I asked him about it, Thor explained that Asgardians visited Earth thousands of years ago.” she said, looking at the director. “They roamed Norway, mingling with the old Norse people, but back then, because they couldn’t understand the concept of people from another planet, they were revered as Gods.”

Fury gave a noise of understanding.

“So who took it?” she looked at Fury “Has Thor been back since Greenwich or…”

She was still slightly pissed he had been back and not in contact with her.

“I wish he had.” Fury sighed “ But no. This thing has gone awol. According to my team on the ground, it was taken by a woman and a man, very much of Earth”

“Great” Katie rolled her eyes “I can’t think of a single time when anything alien in human hands ended well.”

“Understatement of the century…” Fury said, pressing a button on the remote on the TV and she turned her attention to it. It was screening a news broadcast, footage of a riot. The runner on the bottom of the screen identified the location as Oslo.

“The rioting has left 20 injured, 3 in critical condition. Reports indicate that the group of about a dozen was led by this man and woman.”

A picture of a man and a woman flashed up. He was dark haired, dark eyed and had a short beard. The woman, in contrast was slight, blonde and with icy blue eyes.

“And although their motive was unclear, the message was spelled out on the streets of Oslo, for all to see”

“It looks like the item has given them powers beyond those of normal humans.” Fury spoke as the newscast panned over to a fire on the street, this time an aerial view. The fire spelt out the words “We are Gods”.

“So what do you need me to do?” Katie asked, looking at him.

“I’m gonna need you to work with a Field Team.” Fury continued, looking at her “Help them track these guys down. You have a decent knowledge on Asgardian and Mythological history and the team could do with someone with a little background on the subject.”

“Hang on, if these people are as powerful as this report is saying, shouldn’t we consider at least trying to contact Thor, possibly the rest of the Avengers…” Katie frowned.

“No.” Fury said “I don’t want the Avengers involving. It would attract too much attention…”

“More attention than setting a street on fire?” she frowned.

Fury looked at her, an expression on his face that Katie knew extremely well having seen it several times before. The expression he wore when he was about to drop a bombshell on you.

“Oh, what are you hiding Nick?” she frowned.

“I want you to understand that you’ve been kept in the dark about this so far for a reason. And I know you’re going to get emotional, but if you could refrain from throwing that coffee you’re holding Agent Stark I’d appreciate it”

“Dark about what?” she pressed.

Agent Fury pressed a button on his phone on his desk “Alright, you’re up…”

The TV snapped onto a different chanel and she turned to as a familiar man sat in a chair on the screen. Katie didn’t throw the coffee, instead it slipped from her hands as her mouth dropped open and the entire room swam in front of her eyes.

“Sorry, boss. The God rabbited”

“Just stay awake. EYES ON ME!”

“No. I’m clocked out here.”

“Not an option!”

The room came back into focus again and she looked from the screen to Fury, then back again “This…this is impossible” she stammered her words.

“I’d have said the same thing myself not long ago” Agent Coulson said, smiling “Now, I think anything is possible”

Katie found herself floundering for words before the anger at the lies and deceit bubbled up.

“So this whole thing, you dying, was it a set up?”

“No, it’s not like that.” Coulson spoke, shaking his head on the TV screen “I did die, several times on the table.”

“Excellent medics.” Fury concluded.

“They took you away, in a body bag!” Katie yelled as she ran her hands over her face, unable to believe what she was seeing. She’d cried, mourned the loss of one of her friends, a man who had once been her Senior Officer until she had transferred under Hawkeye. She looked at Coulson on the screen, and then away again, her eyes misting up slightly.

“No one knew I’d pulled through until after New York… “ Coulson said softly “I spent months recovering in Tahiti. It’s a magical place…”

“I can’t risk the Avengers falling apart.” Fury said “I debated long and hard about pulling you into this but we need you. But I want your word that you will not reveal Agent Coulson is alive to anyone.”

Katie eyed the director, chin jutting upwards as she glared at him “Don’t you ever get tired of the lies?”

“I have no option.” Fury said, his face stern.

“Well I’m not lying for you.” She said, shaking her head “No way.”

Fury looked at me for a moment, before he sighed “If you tell anyone I’ll have no alternative but to remove you from service.”

Katie snorted “So now you’re blackmailing me?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

“You are unbelievable.” She shook her head. “Fuck you. Fuck this.”

She turned to walk out of the door before Coulson’s voice rang across the room.

“Nova, please, we wouldn’t be asking this of you if it wasn’t urgent, but we really do need your help

She took a deep breath and turned back to look at Fury and the screen.

“Why should I?” she shot back

“Because…” Coulson continued “You’re the only one I trust enough with this.”

Katie ran her hands over her face, torn between wanting to leave and her desire, sorry, duty to help. In the end her duty won out and she felt her shoulders slump as she looked back towards them, giving them both a curt nod.

“Fine, but that does not mean that I’m happy about this. Any of it.”

“You’ll rendezvous with the Bus in Oslow.” Fury instructed. “There’s a Jet being prepped to take the new shift of mobile STRIKE team members out as we speak. You can go with them.”

“Sir.” she nodded, reverting to absolute professional mode, at least that way she could try and push down what she was feeling. As she went to leave the room he called her back.

“Agent Stark.”

She turned to Fury

“I’m sorry.” He said “But I had to do it.”

She swallowed, before she turned and left, not trusting herself to respond.

*****

Steve was looking for Katie, he knew she’d been to see Fury and was eager to find out what it was about. After asking a few agents if they’d seen her he finally tracked her to one of the kitchens where she was sat, hugging a cup of coffee like her life depended on it. He frowned.

“Sweetheart?” he asked tentatively as she looked up at him. His frown deepened when he saw her face. She was upset. “Honey, what is it?”

One look in his eyes, she knew she couldn’t lie to him, she didn’t want to lie to him. Fuck Fury, fuck all of this. If he sacked her then so be it.

“Coulson…he…” she stammered, looking up at Steve, her eyes wet

“What about him?” Steve frowned.

She took a deep breath, tears now rolling down her face. “He’s alive, Steve, he’s fucking alive.”

And then dam broke and she began to sob. Steve instantly went into autopilot, pulling out a spare chair and moving it close to her so he could wrap his arms around her as she cried into his tevlar clad chest, his own mind whirling at the news.

Eventually she calmed down to tell him everything. And he listened, not saying a word, simply holding her hand, his thumb skating over her knuckles as she spoke. He did, however, make an angry noise that was half way between a snort and a growl when she told him Fury had threatened to sack her if she told anyone.

“I honestly thought I’d seen it all, that nothing life threw up would ever surprise me again.” she sighed looking at Steve as she finished explaining.

“Ten bucks says you’re wrong…” he smirked at her

She spluttered a watery laugh through her tears, remembering what she’d said to him in that gym last year.

“That’s better” he said, reaching over to gently brush her cheek with his hand “I like it better when you smile.”

“Sorry, but I’m so angry” she sighed, “Fury is lying, again! Has he learnt nothing from everything that’s happened over the past few years?”

Steve didn’t say anything, merely studied her face for a moment and then both of them turned their attention to the door when one of the Junior Agents appeared.

“Agent Stark, Director Fury asked me to tell you we’re wheels up in an hour.”

“Thanks.” she said, sniffing before she looked at Steve “I don’t even have time to pack.”

“You got some stuff in your locker, right?” Steve asked.

She nodded. She always had a few day’s worth of clothes in her locker and toiletries to hand, just in case. She ran her hands over her face and stood up. “You know, I don’t even know who I’m meeting!” she shook her head “Other than Fitz and Simmons, I’ve no idea who Coulson has on there.”

“Whoever it is I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Steve said gently “And I know it’s shitty but they asked for you for a reason.”

“Hmmm” she said, “Suppose I best make the most of it. Seeing as it will be my last mission, you know, on account of me telling you…”

“It won’t come to that.” Steve shook his head “I’m not gonna tell anyone I know.”

“Fury always finds out.” Katie said, sighing “Tony is right about him. His spies have spies.”

30 minutes later she was walking to the hangar, suited in her SHIELD cat suit, Steve carrying her holdall for her as they walked. Steve didn’t like this, he hated that she was effectively being manipulated and he would have loved nothing more than to give Fury a piece of his mind but he couldn’t, because he wasn’t supposed to know. They reached the bottom of the jet and Katie turned to him as he handed her bag to one of the agents who nodded to Katie.

“I’ll call you as soon as I can.” she said, as Steve looked down at her and nodded

“Make sure you do.” he raised an eyebrow “not sure how I’m gonna cope without my best girl.”

“I don’t intend on being gone for that long” she said, grinning as he dropped a soft kiss to her lips.

“Just do what you gotta do.” he said shaking his head “I’ll be here when you get back.”

He kissed her again, this time a little longer, although both still still aware that they were in the middle of work. Sighing she pulled back and allowed herself to melt into his arms for a quick hug before she stepped back.

“I love you” she said gently.

“You too. Be careful.” he looked at her, his features verging on stern with his warning.

“I’m always careful” she grinned, walking backwards up the ramp, wanting to look at him for as long as possible.

“Well that’s just an out and out lie.” he raised an eyebrow, hands dropping to the buckle of his belt.

She grinned, blew him a kiss and then disappeared into the main part of the jet. Steve watched for a second as the ramp shut before he turned and left the hangar.

*****

The flight over to Oslow wasn’t too long. Katie used the time to do as much reading up on the item they were tracking as possible, going through all the files that Coulson had sent her. Eventually they docked with The Bus, her and the other agents made their way to the Air Lock. The doors were shut, the capsule took them down a level and the glass doors opened. There stood in front of her, was Phil Coulson. The other agents pushed past, clearly fine at the sight of a dead-not-dead man in front of them. There was a moment’s hesitation, where Coulson and Katie simply looked at each other, and then Katie’s anger boiled over and she slapped him, hard across the face. The agents who were milling around all paused as Coulson’s head snapped to the side.

“Guess I deserved that…” he said, turning his head back to look at her.

As she stared at her old mentor, her anger melted away and she rushed to give him a hug. She squeezed him hard before standing back and then looking at him, scanning him for anything, anything at all that wasn’t right.

“I’m all here!” he smiled, knowing what she was doing. “Come on, the rest of the team are waiting in the lab.” He said, leading her down the hall. He stopped at the end of a corridor, near a door to a room that she could see had a glass wall. Coulson turned to face her and she looked at him

“Now, before you go in, there’s something else you should know…”

She groaned “What now?”

“Fury didn’t want me to tell you as he didn’t think you would come…it wasn’t my decision to keep it from you.”

“Keep what from me?” her temper was flaring again now “I swear to God AC I am this close…”she held her fingers an inch apart “to losing my shit…”

Coulson hesitated for a moment and then opened the door to the lab. As they walked in 6 people all looked up from what they’d been watching and turned to face us. One of them was a dark haired girl she didn’t know. Next to her were Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz who she knew from the labs when they had worked with Lawson, then she spotted Melinda May an agent only rivalled in fighting skills by Natasha. And then a familiar face smiled at her, from where he had been bent over a tablet.

“Oh for fucks sake…” Katie muttered and she turned to Coulson who shrugged apologetically.

“Good to see you too.” Ward said. Katie folded her arms and glared at him.

“And this is Skye…” Coulson said, breaking up the tension, introducing the new girl. “She’s…a…”

“hacker.” May said, at the same time Skye replied “consultant”

Skye glared at May, who was simply wearing a smug expression on her face.

Katie was struggling to keep her temper under control. First Coulson, now this. Fury was going to get it when she got back.

“So, shall we get down to business?” Coulson asked, spotting the look on Katie’s face and realising she needed to focus on something else. “What have you got?”

“We’ve managed to identify our thieves…” May spoke as Sky pressed something on the tablet she was holding. A close up of the woman’s face appeared on the holo-projector in the middle of the room. “Her name is Petra Larson”

“And this is Jakob Nystrom, her boyfriend. Both 30 Leaders of a Norse Paganist hate group”

“And their numbers are growing thanks to what happened in London and the internet” Sky said “Yay internet,”

“Norse Paganist?” Simmons questioned

“Obsessed with anything derived from Norse mythology, stories of Asgard, yada yada…” Skye explained.

“And now a weapon.” Ward said, gesturing at a long object on the table.

“Is that a 3-d print?” Katie asked, instantly captivated by the item, looking at Fitz. He nodded. “May I?” she asked

“Of course…” he said. Katie picked it up and turned it over in her hands, the detailing was exquisite.

“The scan accounted for only one side.” Fitz said, “Too much damage to the tree for a complete reproduction”.

“But, see here, it’s clearly broken on both ends.” Katie said, holding it up. “So there are more pieces…”

“Yeah, two at least” Fitz responded, nodding.

“Which means Sid and Nancy may be looking for a complete set.” Ward said.

“The markings.” Coulson turned to Katie “Just as you said on the call they’re Asgardian symbolism.”

She looked at it again “Similar to Thor’s hammer”

“Yeah, hard to translate with our limited knowledge.” Couslon said

“You should give your buddy the God of Thunder a shout.” Sky spoke “ He gets his powers from his hammer, right? What if this is his nail to the hammer?”

“He’s off the grid.” Coulson said, looking at her “And if he has a cell-phone, we don’t have the number.

“I told to get him a pager…” Katie muttered as she peered at the rod and then something stirred in her mind, and she began racking her brains. There was something similar about this, something that she’d seen or read before, if she could only remember what.

“So…” May looked at Katie, “ SHIELD’s investigations are on the trail of Nystrom and his followers.”

“We’re charged with identifying the object and finding any other pieces before they do.” Coulson spoke

Katie nodded, still thinking “If this acts in the same way as Thor’s hammer then that’s a sensible task…”

And then she trailed off as it hit her.

“No...” she muttered. “It’s...no, it can’t be...”

Coulson looked at her questioningly

“I mean, I could be wrong but this…this could be a piece of the Beserker Staff.” she continued

“The what?” Ward looked at her.

“It’s from an old legend… that a great warrior, from another world came to Earth. He had in his possession a magical staff but he loved Earth so much he never left, and he broke his staff into pieces and hid them…”

“Any idea on where?” Coulson asked. Katie shook her head.

“Well our Pagan friends certainly seem to have some advantage on that front” Ward said “They found this thing in 150 square kilometers of Norwegian forest.”

“Guys, what if it called to them with magic?” Sky asked, her eyes going large and excited.

“Called to them?” May said, shooting her a ‘be real’ look in response.

“We know it’s Asgardian, so the rules are a little bendy here.” Skye pressed.

“Just because we don’t understand something yet doesn’t mean we should regress back to the dark ages, talking of magic and fairy tales” Simmons said, Fitz scoffed his agreement.

“Actually, that’s exactly what we need to do.” Katie said, looking round.

“Excuse me?” Simmons asked.

I turned to Agent Coulson “AC, remember when we first found the hammer in New Mexico, as I told Fury to consult with an expert on Norse Mythlogy to fill the gaps.”

“Elliot Randolph,” Phil nodded.

”He’s a professor at a University in Seville” Katie said, looking round “We should speak to him, he’ll probably be able to help.”

“Alright.” Coulson said, looking at May “Set the course, lets pay him a visit.”

“Shouldn’t take us too long.” May said “But it is getting kinda late. By the time we get there it will be past 8pm local time. Can I suggest we head out first thing tomorrow morning?”

Coulson nodded “Alright. Sounds like a plan”

He turned to Katie, gesturing with his head for her to follow him out of the room “The Accommodation is probably a bit smaller than you’re used to, but…”

“If it’s that bad imma find a hotel.” she said as she followed Coulson down the corridor.

“What and miss all the fun?” he looked over his shoulder “I’ve had the gin bar stocked specially.”

“Yeah, for the record that isn’t going to take away from the fact that I’m utterly and utterly pissed at you and Fury you know.” she shot back.

“I know you well enough Nova to not even hope that would be the case” Coulson said as they turned right. Eventually they reached the living area and Coulson led her to one of the spare rooms. It wasn’t as bad as Coulson made it out to be, a bed that was slightly bigger than a single but not a full double, a small wardrobe and a small sink area.

“This isn’t so bad.” she turned to Phil who was watching her.

“Glad it meets your approval.” he said, leaning in the door way. “look, I really am sorry about all of this…”

“Its fine.” Katie said, “Let’s just find that thing and then I can go home.”

“That’s the plan.” Coulson nodded. “I’ll be in the bar in an hour or so, got a few things to sort out…be nice if we could catch up”

Katie nodded, and then watched him leave.

**************

So, we’re crossing over into Agents of SHIELD territory now for a little while before we get a very, merry STARK Christmas.