Caffeine Rush (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 6: Green Team Unite!

By the end of the week, I had received an order from everyone at least once, with Bruce Banner being the only exception. I had asked Tony about it once and he had told me that Bruce was sensitive to all stimulants that could raise the heart rate or blood pressure. It was different from the Beast, who had been triggered by emotions and not physical indicators. Bruce really must have a handle on his body to prevent the change from happening at the slightest provocation. I couldn't imagine facing the Hulk if I ever jump-scared Bruce. Cross him off my list of prank targets.

That being said, I felt bad for him. Given his sensitivity, he couldn't drink, have any kinds of drugs—caffeine included, much to my horror—use any motor vehicles (imagine the road rage!), have sex or raise children, along with a plethora of other things. But not being able to have caffeine got me thinking about the coffee gods. Maybe they wouldn't smite me if I made him something *gasp* decaf! Don't know, I've never tried!

The thought of his suffering sent a pang of sympathy through my heart, so one day I decided to be proactive. Without being prompted, I brought Bruce a mug. He smiled very nicely, a bit shy, a tad guilty, and tried to politely refuse the drink. I nudged it towards him over the counter, reassuring, "it's not coffee, it's green tea with honey and some cream, caffeine free." He looked touched as he thanked me, as if no barista had ever remembered his order before. "Anytime, Bruce, and I do mean any time, green or not." I think he caught on that I wasn't referring to the type of tea.

I became a little infamous after that, having successfully drawn Bruce out of his shell without external provocation such as setting off his angrier green side. Though I would absolutely love to know the Hulk's preference in drinks, *sigh* another time perhaps. Even SHIELD agents had started coming to me with requests and I was more than happy to oblige. I often helped around the compound, as much as my security clearance could allow, I felt guilty that my wage had increased while my living expenses had gone down and I was doing less work, so helping out unnecessarily helped assuage some of that guilt. It also gave me a plausible cover story for where I was if they ever asked my whereabouts when I was on a run.

Doing those little tasks and going out for the occasional run meant that no one was manning my station, so I created an app that connected to a bell at the counter, summoning me whenever I was away. That had turned out to be a big hit so I updated the app, Avenger-tech exclusive, to allow the team to put in a delivery order, with an extra barista five minute delivery guarantee.

I had just begun to get settled in to the swing of things when a particular pirate in a trench coat came in and stirred up trouble. Everyone was called in for the meeting, minus Thor, and I was kinda surprised to be included. I crossed my fingers, hoping this wasn't some sort of confrontation intervention something-or-other that I saw on tv when Wanda was watching the hallmark channel. Getting exposed now would suck in a grandiose kinda way.

"I have news," Patchy started, "we've received contact from Thor, he's coming back to Earth for the foreseeable future, arriving later today."

"I'm sensing a 'but'." Natasha bluntly called him out.

Fury nodded in such a grave manner that one would think Thor was gravely wounded or there was a death in the family, "he is bringing Loki with him." Immediately, there was an uproar and I felt like the only one left out, not quite understanding why. I did pick up on some interesting facts while they were protesting.

"He's alive! Again?" So apparently this Loki was fond of faking his own death, good to know.

"He tried to take over the world and destroyed New York!" So he had swapped roles with Hela, but had been surprisingly less effective though. Only New York? Hela had destroyed almost the entire East coast before the Avengers had—barely—managed to stop her, Florida receiving the worst of it.