Zeta: Finally, took me a bit to get the last bit down.

Yuuka: More like you took your time to get it done.

Zeta: Hey, I still have university looming over my life. Anyways, I guess I'll answer some questions and explain some things. The timeline at this point has deviated quite a bit, but since this is Gensokyo and Yukari we're talking about, it will deviate in certain places in the timeline and will not change at all in others. Certain events will still happen but it might have a few elements added or have no difference at all. You'll see this later on in the story.

Yuuka: And what about the other reviews?

Zeta: Fairly sure you can teach Pepper about herbs.

Yuuka: Fair enough.

Zeta: Also, if it isn't obvious enough, I do not own the Avengers or Touhou. Please read the previous disclaimers. Thanks.

Yuuka: Are you done now? If you are, get on with it.

Zeta: Alright, alright, quit badgering me, please!

Chapter 3: SHIELD's Mystery Gap and the Day of the Genius

Undisclosed Location…

Colonel Nick Fury, head of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, was not having the day of his life. What should have been a simple mission of investigating the odd appearance of an Unknown was turned upside down by Agent Coulson's reports going missing from his office. Then he tries to get out of his office to find some agents and demand them to find the missing reports.

Only for his bald head to hit the wall.

…

A few months prior…

Yukari was enjoying her time in the Outside World in the place called New York in the U.S. She had made sure that no one made a fuss about her dress by making herself not noticeable to human eyes. The Youkai Sage had taken a tour of the Big Apple and was impressed by the advancement of humanity. She was especially taken by the sight of the Statue of Lady Liberty, which she learned was given as a gift to the Americans by the French.

The gap youkai then wandered around the city until she arrived into a small café. Deciding that a small tea break was in order, she entered the place and ordered some green tea and some snacks.

As she was taking her tea, she felt that something was eyeing her now and took a small peek to see a man in a black suit sitting a few tables across from her.

Agent Coulson was sitting in the middle of a café with a warm cup of coffee when he noticed an oddly dressed woman with golden locks of hair and a … pink mob cap?

'Oh, it appears someone took notice of me. Also, a black suit? In the middle of summer? A bit too much for this time of year. Ah well, since my time is almost up, I might as well have some fun with this human.'

The agent then approached the woman with a stoic look on his face and sat on the chair opposite her.

"Excuse me, miss, but may I ask why you are dressed like that?"

Yukari held back a smirk and decided to act confused, "Oh my, but what is wrong with my dress? Is there a stain, a tear, or a loose thread? Oh, good sir, tell me what is wrong with the way I dress?"

Agent Coulson was thrown slightly off by the act but pressed onward, "No ma'am, but it seems a bit stuffy to wear in the middle of summer."

"Really, but it seems I'm not the only one dressed in odd clothes. Tell me, isn't that suit also 'a bit stuffy to wear in the middle of summer'?" she countered.

The two didn't notice the commotion they were making, and everyone was buzzing about the possible new couple. Yukari then took a quick and unnoticeable glance at the people before turning her focus back to the human.

"My, my, it appears we're getting quite a bit of attention in here. Why don't we take our discussion somewhere else, good sir? Somewhere a bit more… private." She added, with a suggestive look and a hint of lust.

Coulson had stumbled to find a response to her 'suggestion' but instead found himself turning red and simply nodding. The pair then headed out and turned into a dark alleyway, where Yukari simply made a slight 'turn' and simply entered a gap.

Agent Coulson was taken by surprise. The woman had turned left and when he tried to follow, he ended up hitting a wall… literally and metaphorically. Where did she go? Was there a secret passage she had gone through?

"Looking for someone?"

He turned to find the same woman he was following, now behind him. He pulled out his gun and got ready to fire. Lamentably, he could not do so as the 'weapon' he pulled from his gun holster was not the actual gun but a banana instead.

Yukari ended up laughing at the human's misery for pulling a banana instead of his actual weapon that she had switched out for the fruit when they were in the café.

"Who are you?" the agent finally asked the main question in his mind.

"Hmm…? Oh, no one important. Just a poor lady who was bored and just wanted to have some fun." She answered while simply twirling her hair locks.

"Could you please come with me then?" he asked with a slight threat in his voice. Yukari simply sighed; her day was really ruined after all.

"And why may I ask? After all, my day was just interrupted, and I need to know why the sudden interrogation?"

"I am Agent Coulson from SHIELD. We simply want to ask you a few questions, Miss…"

She simply winked and wagged her left and right, "Ah, ah, ah… I already told you I am not someone you need to know about. Thanks for telling me who you are though. Bye-bye." She then opened a gap and vanished from the alleyway, leaving a confused agent.

…

After that encounter with the unknown, Agent Coulson began his search for the Unknown and had some agents to help him in his investigation. The team had nearly caught the Unknown several times, only for her to vanish again and again. Fury had noted that it was playing the cat-and-mouse game with them and had Coulson write up the reports of their investigation so that he could figure out a plan to deal with the Unknown.

Unfortunately, he did not account for the cunningness that was Yukari Yakumo.

Fury was well for a lack of a better term… furious. After he had hit the wall, he quickly went to his desk to find a note placed at the top.

'Nice try, One-eyed Pirate. I'm afraid I cannot allow you to find me yet. It's still fun to see you try though ?. Have fun trying to get out of your office for the entire day!'

The spy then pulled out a flip-phone and pressed a button, "Agent Coulson, it appears someone took the reports and have now trapped me inside my office."

"Sir, I've tried to find your office, and something happened for it to not be there anymore. I only got a note saying that for your office to return, you have to leave the Unknown alone. What should I do?"

Well damn, he was played by the entity, who was smart enough not to leave a name, but also isolated him from the rest of the base so he couldn't escape.

"We have no choice then. Make sure that all copies of the files are destroyed, but leave physical copies in a small safe, in case we need it. Understood?"

The agent replied with a prompt 'yes' and hung up. Fury never noticed a small purple gap underneath his desk sealing shut before vanishing.

Yuuka and Elly were not a happy party. Not one bit at all. It took quite a bit of restraint for Yuuka to not simply go to Tony Stark's mansion and turn it into a crater.

Their apartment had now been transformed by her boss, and she was not one happy camper.

…

Hours before…

Yuuka had just finished shopping with Elly for some gardening supplies. As it was early spring and quite warm in this time of year in California, the two agreed on setting up a small garden of flowers and some herbs and vegetables for this year.

"Columbines and Cosmos, simply a colorful pair, "Yuuka remarked while carrying a green bag of soil with ease to the surprise of the people walking by them.

"Don't forget the other herbs and veggie plants here, Yuuka. We probably could open a small flower shop or something here." Elly added, carrying the basket with the small potted plants with a stack of larger pots, a small shovel, and two pairs of gloves.

"We really should open one. Doing paperwork and having to make sure Pepper does not strangle Mr. Stark for not going to those awful meetings is rather bothersome. I really don't blame him for not going."

Elly had to agree on that part. From what she had heard from Yuuka's experience, Obadiah Stane was a man who really had issues with Tony running the company. A man that awfully ambitious is a dangerous man and Stane was quite the ambitious man.

"The man that worries me more is Stane."

Yuuka simply raised an eyebrow before shrugging, "Not my problem at that point. My only concern is to get information for Yukari's whims."

"Not your problem unless you feel like it's going to be a problem for you?" Elly pointed out, to which Yuuka shot a small glare at her.

"Really now, Elly. There's nothing that is much of a problem to me." She countered as the two rode the elevator to their apartment floor.

"The only things that are an issue for me are really annoying pests who think they are powerful and anything that tries to trample my flowers. Really, that's all the problems I…"

The duo stopped at the front of the open door to see Tony Stark, sitting nonchalantly on their couch while reading a magazine.

"Hey, Ms. Rin! You don't mind that I'm sitting on your couch, right?" he simply asked.

Elly simply looked around at the apartment, only to find it oddly different. The couches she originally had were replaced with black leather couches and the walls were now a dark red.

Yuuka simply took one glance at the balcony where they had the mini-garden.

To find the garden reassembled in a rather unorthodox way that she did not appreciate. Even more so when he mentions that he didn't know if he should have replaced it with actual flowers or something.

"Oh, and there's a really odd door that no matter what I told the contractors, they could not see the door. Is there weed in your garden or something? Because I'm sure there is a door there. I tried drilling it, painting over it, and even tried throwing eggs on it, but it would just return to normal."

Elly simply shook her head before going out to the balcony and rearranging the plants, while Tony received a terrifying glare from Yuuka.

She wasn't the "Sleeping Terror" for nothing.

…

The three were sitting around the living room, with Elly having served tea and chocolate chip cookies.

"So, may I ask why you decided that you should remodel our apartment, Mr. Stark?" Yuuka asked with a feigned smile on her face.

The brunette man had a sheepish smile, "Well, I wanted to thank you for your support in the meeting. I looked up where you lived and when I entered your apartment, I thought it could use some color."

Yuuka simply gave Tony a good stare before smacking the back of his head.

"OWW! Karen are you trying to break my head off?!" the genius was rubbing the back of his head trying to soothe the pain away.

"Not yet. And the better question is why did you not ask me directly? Better yet, why did you have to go through the idea of remodeling our apartment?"

Elly snickered before receiving a good dose of Yuuka's death stare and leaving to check the apartment and taking inventory.

"So…" Tony starts to break the ice a bit, after Yuuka sips her tea, "Mind explaining me about that weird door?"

The Flower Master simply huffed, "There is nothing to explain to you, Mr. Stark. After all, I'm not the one breaking and entering."

Tony simply rolled his eyes, "But Karen, I only wanted to thank you for making my meetings less boring!" he whined.

"Then the only gift I would have taken from a man such as yourself is a simple 'thank you'. Nothing more and nothing less. I'm fairly sure you could afford to give me a simple statement such as that." She deadpanned, taking a bite out of another cookie.

"Don't be mean to me! I only wanted to thank you for showing the bald, old men of the board where they can shove it. The door happened to be a bonus." He took a bite of his cookie.

Yuuka simply sighed at her childish boss before taking a sip of her tea before getting up and led Tony to the same door that normally took her to Mugenkan. But when she opened the door…

"That's it? A tearoom?" Tony was really expecting something much bigger… not a tearoom.

What Tony didn't know was that Yuuka had changed the location of the door in Mugenkan to the tearoom. If he had paid a bit more attention to detail, he would have noticed that the small gap in the curtains showed the true location.

"Yep. A tearoom. While having tea in the living room is nice and all, a tearoom provides a perfect environment to simply relax and feel at home." The two then closed the door behind them and headed back to the living room where Elly was finished making some blueberry muffins for Tony to take back home with a box of tea leaves.

"I guess… um… I'm sorry for not asking you if you wanted the remodeling. You know I could-" Tony began apologizing but was cut off by Yuuka.

"Thank you, Tony, but I believe Elly truly likes the new look you have given the apartment. There's no need for you to apologize, but please try to ask first before doing something drastic such as remodeling someone else's home. Understand."

Tony then made a mock salute, "Yes ma'am. I'll see you tomorrow, Karen!" And the enigmatic man quickly left with his muffins and box of tea, his face clearly showing the eagerness to get home and try those blueberry muffins.

"Wow. Never seen anyone running back home that fast to eat some blueberry muffins." Elly commented as she cleaned up the kitchen.

"I'll bet that he'll eat a few while he's driving home," Yuuka remarked as she continued drinking her tea.

"And I know you've been listening in, Yukari."

A gap opened to reveal a pouting Yukari, holding a small cookie she stole from her favorite shrine maiden.

"Why Yuuka, how could you suggest that I of all people, was just listening in on your conversations. Me, an innocent young lady."

"'Innocent' isn't the word I would use for someone like you. 'Annoying' is a better description of you."

Yukari simply unfolded her fan to hide her smirk, "My, my, but I thought you liked me, Yuuka? Especially since I helped you with the arrangements of getting here and managing to blend in."

Yuuka simply took a good sip of her tea to shut herself up from even responding to that statement. She still remembered how the conversation of getting to the U.S. and managing to blend with the humans properly went for her.

"Anyways, since you're here already I might as well ask you for a favor. After all, you still owe me for that one incident." Yuuka internally smirked, as she knew she had just caught the youkai sage, who normally held the advantage, off-guard.

Said sage was fanning her face at a brisk pace, almost as if hiding her discomfort of being at a disadvantage.

"Very well. What is it that you need from me?" she reluctantly asked

"Elly?"

The blonde gatekeeper of Mugenkan sighed at Yuuka before beginning to speak, "We need you to spy on a human by the name of Obadiah Stane."

Yukari stopped fanning herself almost immediately, before slightly giggling to herself.

"You want me… to spy on a human? What for?"

Elly shrugged and simply glanced at Yuuka, who was clearly clenching her fists before finally mumbling her answer.

"To make sure Stark stays safe."

Yukari heard the flower youkai, but of course, the mischievous youkai simply pretended to not have heard her and cupped her hand and placed it next to her ear, "What was that Yuuka? Do you actually want to help a human? A human you really don't like but tolerate his presence after he had annoyed you. A fragile human, whose life you can end in less than a minute or two. Is what am I hearing right~" she sang teasingly.

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, YES WE GET IT, STUPID GAP TROLLING OLD HAG!" Yuuka was just getting close to simply using the Master Spark to blast her to oblivion, but she knew better than to simply blast the sage away when she could just use a gap to flee.

Elly thankfully became the mediator between the two powerhouses, "Look, we only want you to check out this human because not only does he seem to be after Tony, but he's also after Miss Yuuka as well. Especially after introducing the medicine which was only made possible with the help of the tests from Eirin."

Yukari contemplated for a bit. She had known that Yuuka would make some enemies in the Outside World, but she knew that the plant youkai could handle herself against any opponent.

Stark, on the other hand, would need to create armaments for himself to actually be able to defend himself. Considering this fact, she felt that it would be in her best interest to check out Obadiah. The job itself was simple and it would give them the upper hand, and she would be able to call in a favor from Yuuka.

The decision was made then, "Alright, I will check on this human for you. After all, I did ask you to check out Stark for me."

This prompted another question from Elly, "Why are we even checking out Stark anyways?"

Yuuka knew a little, but even Yukari's vague answers didn't answer that question completely.

"That has quite a bit of story that I will have to tell another time. As much as I want to give you the answer, I can't give it to you entirely. Just know that Gensokyo's security is at stake here."

The plant youkai narrowed her eyes at the tone of Yukari's voice. It was well-known that Yukari was normally a trickster and loved to play around whenever she was not sleeping, but whenever it came to the safety of Gensokyo, she was one of the most feared youkai, since she would do anything to get rid of any threat to Gensokyo by any means necessary. Even if she needs to get her hands dirty.

"Very well, Yukari, but I want answers about this situation. Even if I have to duel you for them." Yuuka challenged, with a fierce glare. Yukari simply smiled and left through another gap, leaving the two inhabitants of the apartment alone drinking tea.

Tony had just gotten inside his mansion when he noticed Pepper sitting on the couch with a cup of tea.

"Oh, hey Pep."

"Hello to you, Mr. Stark." She answered back.

The engineering genius then placed the blueberry muffins on the coffee table and the box of tea, which catches her attention.

"Did you go see Karen?"

"Yeah, I went to go remodel her place as a show of thanks."

"And…" she gestured for him to continue.

"She told me not to do it again and that a thank-you would be just fine."

Pepper smiled, despite the flaws of her boss and his infamous playboy moniker, he still had a good heart.

"It's still a nice thing for you to remodel their home, but I would have to agree with her."

"But Pep…" he whined.

"Nope, sorry Mr. Stark, but you brought this on yourself. But maybe… if I can have the box of tea leaves…" she hinted.

"Sure, I'm more of a coffee person. But stay away from MY blueberry muffins."

"Yeah, yeah go be with your overrated muffins." she got up and took the box of tea leaves to the kitchen.

"Hey! There's no need to insult my muffins! And they're not overrated!"

"Whatever you say, Mr. Stark. Tea?"

The two stayed up for a while before Pepper left the mansion. Tony then got ready to go to sleep, which was strange for him, since he usually stayed up late working on his project.

Back in SHIELD HQ, Fury was finally released from the trap. Only to open the door to his office and fall for another trap. Someone clearly thought that it was a good idea to place a bunch of screaming duck dolls in the hallways of the entire base and now all agents were trying to get them off the floor. Lamentably, the ducks were all glued into the floor.

"Coulson, where did these ducks come from?"

The agent was slightly embarrassed for the answer he was going to give, "We actually do not know. We were all knocked out by some fog, which most likely contained a sleeping agent, and the next thing we knew, these dolls appeared all over the floor. Coincidentally, we were all inside a room at the time."

Fury was not a happy man. And if he actually focused a little, he would have noticed a small purple gap on a hidden corner of the hallway. And you could hear cackling laughter coming from the small gap.