The dig site

Natasha met with Lara & Diana in the hotel lobby, ready to head to the dig site. "Morning, ladies," Natasha greeted. "Hope you slept well last night -- We've got a long day ahead of us."

"Yes, I slept very well," Diana answered with a smirk, giving Lara a knowing glance.

"Me too," Lara added. "In fact, I haven't slept that well in a long time..."

The three women made their way to the car, and headed off to the dig site. As they rode, Diana whispered something in Lara's ear that made her blush.

"What was that?" Natasha asked. Lara and Diana seemed to be enjoying each other's company that morning. *Really* enjoying each other's company.

"Umm... we were just talking about... our adventures together so far," Lara answered, turning redder. "We'll talk about it later."

"Sure," Natasha said, raising an eyebrow as she turned back to look out the window. She wondered for a moment what Lara & Diana had done together. Whatever it was, though, Natasha reasoned that it likely wasn't any of her business.

The vehicle pulled up at the dig site, and the trio got out. The dig site was located in the outskirts of Athens, on a small hill surrounded by trees and other greenery.

A woman with long black hair met them as they approached the site. "Lara! I'm so happy to see you," the woman said, hugging Lara warmly. "It's been too long."

"It's good to see you, too," Lara replied, returning the woman's hug. "Ladies, this is Dr. Erica Brooks, head archaeologist at this site. Erica, I'd like you to meet Natasha and Diana."

"Welcome to our dig site, ladies," Erica greeted. "Lara's filled me in on the details. A few weeks ago, a man matching the description of the person you're looking for approached several members of our dig team, offering them a large sum of money to pass on any relics they might excavate. They turned him down and informed us of his presence -- we've upped our security since then..."

Just then, another member of the excavation team ran up to Erica, a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Erica asked.

"Dr. Brooks! We've got a situation..." the man answered, out of breath. "We think someone's stolen the apple."

"WHAT?!" Erica cried out in disbelief. "Show me."

The four women followed the man to the dig site, where lay an empty case. "We're sure this was where the apple was held. We had just excavated it..."

"So someone got to it first," Erica reasoned.

"Could this have been an inside job?" Natasha asked. "Have you noticed anyone acting out of the ordinary lately?"

"No, not really," Erica answered. "But we do have security cameras all over the site. If we look at the footage... maybe we'll find something."

"Would you mind giving SHIELD access to that footage?" Natasha asked. "We can quickly analyze it for any leads..."

"Of course. Come with me, I'll give you access to it now," Erica replied.

They quickly found the perpetrator -- a day earlier, a member of the dig site had found the apple and absconded with it, returning hours later. The group brought the worker in for interrogation immediately. It wasn't long before Natasha had him talking.

"He offered me a ridiculous amount of money," the thief explained. "I'd have been crazy to turn that much cash down."

"Who hired you?" Natasha pressed.

"Heheheh... it was a guy with a serious twisted grin on his face... said he had some serious plans... eeheehee..."

"Plans? What plans?"

"Hahaha... said... he was in the middle of gathering a few things for a friend... said once he got 'em, they'd cause all kinds of trouble on Olympus... can you believe that... heeheehee..."

"'A few things? What else is he after? Where is he going next?!" Diana demanded.

"Hehe... hehehehe... He told me... hahahaha... He told me he was... he was going... hahahahaha... AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

The thief continued to laugh uncontrollably, unable to breathe, and unable to stop, he eventually fell down dead in spite of attempts to calm the hysterical laughter.

"Shit!" Natasha hissed. "Well, we know he's still after something, but now we have no idea where he might be."

"No. But I can make an educated guess," Lara said. "Joker's probably headed to another dig site. And that dig site's likely linked to Eris."

"And we also know his end destination... Olympus," Diana added. "He's gathering powerful relics for Eris to cause chaos amongst the gods."

Natasha nodded. "That doesn't sound encouraging... we should head back to the hotel and plan our next steps."