A torture chamber was a dream compared to the time I spent on the quinjet. The whole time, Coulson was practically swooning over the Captain, attempting to impress him - which I found to be rather difficult on my end - and make plenty of conversation. He even decided to make a moment or two awkward for not only Steve, but the other passenger he decided to neglect.

In a way, Coulson had the comical resemblance of a fangirl trying to be subtle, but was failing miserably.

This is the one moment I wish I had social media.

My natural reaction would be a rehearsed laugh that sounded as if it were meant to be subtle, but loud enough for them to hear and suddenly become conscious of my presence. However, I was not too keen of the character in which this admiration was imposed upon.

In this case, I was just annoyed.

We were headed east over the ocean towards a ship supposedly larger than the one we occupied. It was a SHIELD base - so my theory was - located somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic, which meant a nice, long ride with Captain old school and Agent fangirl.

I took pleasure in studying the notes of the mission, educating myself of the knowledge of the Tesseract and reading over Dr. Eric Selvig's notes. It doubled as an effort to block out the sickening display of one way admiration.

After what seemed to be hours, we landed on what they called a helicarrier: a ship of massive size that dominated the dimensions of any Navy charter or cargo hold.

My first step made my whole body tingle. It was my techno senses reading the contents of this massive vessel. The structure within was vastly detailed, extremely complex and full of technology I was only familiar with on a minimal basis. But I knew them by name and understood basic function.

Of course the reading was blurred through my boots, but it was beautiful work nonetheless.

Black Widow was the first one I spotted on the landing deck. I knew her short, red hair billowing in the ocean breeze anywhere, and believe me I was beyond excited to see her.

Thank goodness. A familiar face.

I immediately advanced in her direction, sending off my bag to one of the agents that greeted us upon arrival. "Romanoff."

"Jackie," she returned the acknowledgement. "Welcome to the helicarrier."

"Thanks," I said relieved.

"How was the ride?"

"It was..." I glanced over my shoulder, glimpsing Steve, "how do I put this nicely? An experience."

"Making friends?"

I rolled my eyes.

She chuckled lightly. "I didn't bruise you up too bad did I?"

"Nah, just the black eye and the brow. You've done worse."

"Good."

"Besides, every scar is a new story to tell."

"Looks like it's healing well."

"Just a little sore. I'm sure it'll be gone soon."

We had that type of relationship. On the training mat it was all blood and sweat. Outside the training room, we talked casually over my latest injuries and made casual conversation as best as we could. I was constantly interested in her latest missions and which secrets she was able to uncover.

Otherwise, neither one of us shared a similar lifestyle, therefore there wasn't much to discuss between us. The only thing we shared was on the mat.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

I heaved a long, heavy sigh before picking my words. If you can't trust yourself, no one else will. "I hope I'm as ready as I think I am."

"You'll do fine," she assured me. "This was never in the job description. Yet here we are."

"I wish everyone saw it that way."

Just as I said it, Steve strolled over with his fangirl shadowing him. He wasn't close enough to have heard me, but how I wish he had heard that.

"Agent Romanoff," Coulson approached. "Captain Rogers."

"Ma'am," he addressed her.

Wow. No judgement for her?

"Hi," she replied then turned to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. Face time."

"I'll see you there."

Romanoff stepped closer to Steve, and I stepped with her. "There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice."

Really? I thought sarcastically.

"I thought Coulson was gonna swoon," she remarked.

"He already did," I replied.

"Did he ask you to sign his captain america trading cards yet?"

The sudden mention of trading cards curled up my - what I thought to be my forever frowning - lips and released a snicker. "Trading cards?" I said through my laugh.

"I know," she replied to me. "They're vintage, he's very proud."

My laugh excelled in volume. I knew Steve was glaring hard down at me, but I was only gaining satisfaction. "Trading cards. Classic."

Steve merely rolled his eyes when he spotted another being roaming across the landing strips. I recognized him from the files I had read over, but there was no need to have a picture of him to go by. His nervous movements and tense posture was all I needed to go by in order to have a name. He was Dr. Banner, otherwise known as the Hulk.

"Dr. Banner," Steve shook his hand.

Banner was hesitant in shaking it, but shook nonetheless.

"Oh yeah, hi. They told me you'd be coming."

Since Steve was making introductions, I figured I might as well. "Dr. Banner," I approached with a smile, "Jackie Stark. It's a pleasure."

"Right, the magical girl. You're Stark's kid."

"Yeah. But magic isn't my only profession."

"So I've heard."

"You're a scientist?"

He nodded, nervously.

"Well I would love to be of some assistance. And my boss as well."

"Much obliged. You're uh... not going to set me on fire or anything, right?"

I laughed through my nose, shaking my head. "The only person who needs to worry about that is Mr. stars and stripes."

Steve suddenly decided to intercede. "Word is you can get the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about."

"Must be strange for you," Banner observed, "all of this."

"Well this is actually kind of familiar."

After checking her watch, Romanoff leaned slightly towards my ear, with that familiar smirk she wore when she was about to get clever. "Wanna see something cool?"

"Sure," I replied suspiciously, but also with a hint of curiosity.

She moved over to where Steve and Banner stood, casually mentioning an important piece of survival in the form of warning. "Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."

Hard to breathe?

The floor beneath us suddenly began to rumble. I touched my palm to the floor and used my techno senses to read through the contents of machinery throughout the ship. I could see it all happening, using my techno vision to see the gears and machinery going at work with one another. This ship had more rooms than I could account for, passages that met others, resembling the complexity of a maze. Certain parts had their own programming, but it all met back to the same place at the heart of the ship.

Steve and Banner walked to the edge of the ship, peering down at the water.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked over the rumble.

Banner was now more nervous than ever, if that was even possible. "Really? They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?"

But when I scanned the gears for a means of air chambers meant to hold water for submerging, there were none to be found. However, I finally understood what Romanoff meant by not being able to breathe.

A smile crossed my lips as I felt four lift fans emerge from under the water's surface, spinning rapidly, faster and faster at a speed I couldn't calculate on the spot. The Helicarrier began to lift, defying gravity as if it were a feather.

This definitely isn't a submarine.

Steve was in awe and Banner was smiling, shaking his head. "Oh no. This is much worse."

Romanoff escorted us inside through a pair of doors and into the main bridge of the ship, encountering a flurry of activity with dozens of agents at work, each stationed at their own viewscreen. It was beyond breathtaking, the teamwork and detail put into this one room.

In my shock I could manage only one word.

"Dang..."

Fury was standing at the command chair, surrounded by his many view screens. He wore his usual black, leather overcoat with that patch over his left eye. Another agent, later on I learned her name to be Agent Hill, had a smaller command chair just a few feet from his.

"We have lift off," she announced in a firm voice, then turned to Fury. "We're in lock sir."

"Good," Fury replied. "Let's vanish."

Vanish?

I put my hand to a console, reading a new program. The bottom of the helicarrier became an array of reflective mirrors, blending with the passing sky.

Romanoff joined me, enjoying my reaction to the bridge. "Well?"

"This. Is. Awesome."

"Impressed yet?"

"Beyond."

Steve and Banner took a wandering through the bridge during all of the action before settling themselves at the Science Console, followed by Romanoff and myself.

"Well," I breathed, "I'm impressed."

As soon as the ship was in full pursuit, Fury stepped down from his command chair and joined the rest of us. "Gentlemen," he greeted Steve and Banner.

I noticed Steve slip out his wallet and hand Fury a few bucks. My brow raised itself an inch as this exchange took place. Only one thing could cross my mind at a seemingly harmless exchange of money.

"Let me guess, a bet?" I asked Romanoff.

She nodded in agreement. "I reckon so."

Fury then greeted me, extending a hand. "Miss Stark, so glad you could make it."

"Glad to be here," I returned. "So what role will I be playing in this mission exactly?"

"Well, after studying your habits in the field of power, and your level of intelligence being of extensive length, you will be assisting us in every field possible. But above all, you stand as an advantage for our team. Think you can handle it?"

"I know I can."

"Good." Fury made his way to Banner, extending his hand in greeting. "Doctor, thank you for coming."

Banner shook his hand reluctantly just the same as he had with Steve. "Thanks for asking nicely. So... how long am I staying?"

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

The Tesseract. Reading about that small cube in the files passed on to me was like reading a horror story. The things that cube was capable of, in the wrong hands, was incredible. Merely the name was enough to make me shudder, knowing it was in the hands of Loki.

"Where are you with that?" Banner asked.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet." Fury gestured to the view screens on the lower level of the bridge. Each had an image of the public; selfies, facetime, taking photos, or skyping. "Cellphones, laptops. It it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

Natasha didn't seem convinced. "That's still not gonna find him in time."

"You need to narrow the field," I suggested. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked.

Banner suddenly cut in. "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."

Finally, someone who speaks english, I smiled to myself. "You understand gamma radiation?"

"Of course," Banner replied. "It's one of the simpler things I learned in my years. You?"

"I learned about gamma radiation before I knew Santa Claus was a thing."

From the way Banner observed me, he had gained a mutual respect for me. And I him.

"Great," Fury cut in. "You can assist Dr. Banner in locating the Tesseract."

Wait, what?

"Cool," Banner commented. "Do you have someplace for us to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner and Miss Stark to their laboratory please?"

She nodded and walked ahead of us, leading us down a maze of hallways.

"Miss Stark, when we have a lead, you're up for pursuit with Steve."

Steve's head snapped up at this announcement. I smiled at his reaction, barely able to hold in a snicker. Now he was forced to work with me. But I was mostly happy about the thought of working out in the field, fighting the villain and bringing him in as a prisoner.

"Sweet. Thanks Fury."

But before I followed, Steve rushed over to Fury and started asking questions.

Questions about me.

"Director Fury, why are you putting your trust in that kid?"

"Because that kid happens to be a very powerful weapon," he answered.

"But she's just a kid. We can take on this character ourselves."

"Captain," he stopped Steve in his words, "when it comes to a threat as dangerous and powerful as this one, we need all the help we can get. And from the clips Romanoff has sent of her skills, I have no doubt she is an acceptable necessity to this mission."

"What if she fouls up? She's never faced anything like this."

"None of us have." He turned to leave, but added with a final remark. "And by the way, all of us have had our fair share of foul ups. None of us are perfect. Plus, can you shoot fire out of your hands?"

I left with a smile and headed down the hallway, following Banner and Romanoff to our workspace.