A/N: Here we go! Yet another chapter done, though I have to admit I'm not overly happy with it. However, it is done. Who knows, maybe you guys may think and feel differently about it. I've also been doing some future planning for this story and I can't wait to get into the knitty gritting stuff… All I can say is, It's going to be good (if I do say so myself) :0)
So here it is, Chapter 'Thor' ( Did you like how I did that? 4? Thor? Lol) of my story 'Of Mischief and Madness'
Please feel free fave and Review. All comments are welcome.
Enjoy :0)
Let the madness commence!
Chapter 4
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Time seemed to fly by, I had no idea what time it was or long I had been in this place. I looked around the room, my gaze taking in all the details. It was a simple room, four walls, in a pastel cream colour. The bed I sat on was a soft and a single in size. The carpet underneath my bare feet was thick and cushioning under my tender soles. There was a large round window above the bed; it was a clear portal to the everlasting blue sky and white clouds outside. To my right was another door, which I could only assume, led to an en-suite bathroom of sorts.
The aircraft I was on was huge. At first I had assumed it was a rather flat looking boat, as it was landed on the sea when we had first arrived to it. Only to realise, ten minutes later, that the boat could fly and was now soaring into the sky. The thrum of the engines rattled through the ground below me and vibrated against my naked toes. The humming sound was both relaxing and frightening; a constant reminder that I had left my father without so much as word, and now I was in the sky, flying away with strangers who seemed to know everything about me. I sighed to myself, tired and weary, desperately needing some time to sleep and to think in peace.
I looked up at the man standing before me in his black fitting suit. Agent Phil Coulson was watching me, assessing me as I peered around my new surroundings trying to gather some of my sanity back.
" Mr fury will speak with you soon." He said, turning away towards the door we had entered through not long ago, " In the meantime, get some rest." He opened and looked back one more time to me, " I'll come and get you when he's ready to see you."
Feeling lost and unable to do anything else, I simply nodded at him and watched him leave, softly closing the door behind him.
So, this was it. Here I am, I thought to myself solemnly. After the aftermath of the attack, the agents had sought me out, trying to encourage me to leave with them. There encouragement had worked and before I had known or considered changing my mind I had left with them. One moment I was with the other guests, sat on a chair, waiting for my father to return. The next I was in an expensive looking black car, and then we had stepped up into a parked helicopter where it had taken off and brought us here. It was called a 'Hellicarrier', or so Agent Coulson had told me on the way here. It was one of the biggest and most obscure pieces of machinery I had ever seen in my life. It was huge. Both the Agents and I had stepped onto the large aircraft and Agent Coulson had led me straight through the winding steel corridors to this spare room, where I would be staying for the time being.
I was so out of my depth. I had no idea where I was; other than on a strange air ship. I had no idea was time it was, as when I looked down at my watch I realised it was missing, it had probably fallen off at some point during the evening. I felt dirty, tired, my hair was mess and my feet were killing me. I wanted nothing more than to be back at home and to snuggle under my thick duvet quilt with my flannel pyjamas on. Instead all I could do was lean back against the crisp clean pillows of this new bed and stare at the ceiling.
I don't know how long I lay there, staring, thinking about everything and nothing in particular. But before I realised, my eyes were growing heavily and my lids started to fall shut. A soothing, empty darkness took a hold of me, it bathed me and embraced me like a missed companion. I wanted it to never end. However my wish did not happen; as the moment a knock sounded at the door and I heard the soft creak of it from beside me I was up in a flash with my eyes open as I watched Agent Coulson step into the room.
The middle-aged man nodded to me both in understanding and apology for waking me, "He's ready to see you now."
I took a deep cleansing breath and stood, preparing myself for what was to come. I reached over and slipped my shoes back onto my feet. I nodded and followed him out of the room, letting him guide me as we twisted and turned our way through the numerous corridors once again to meet with the person who could give me all the answers. Nick Fury, is what Agent Coulson had called him, and apparently he was the man who had sent for me. He is the director and a super-agent of S.H.I.E.L.D and one of the most influential and powerful men of his time. Or so Agent Coulson had said.
The suited agent and I stepped in a strange metal lift and the moment we were alone together in the compartment I began to fiddle with the folds on my skirts, trying to smooth out the creases somewhat.
" Nervous?"
Surprised, I looked up into Agent Coulson smiling blue eyes and nodded guiltily, my cheeks heating.
He chuckled lightly, "Don't be." He turned towards the lift doors again as the compartment began to jolt and move underneath us, " Mr Fury is somewhat eccentric, but he is a good man. You can trust us."
I felt myself smiling a little, appreciative of his support and for being kind when I was obviously feeling very lost in this unknown territory.
The lift stopped suddenly and the doors opened to reveal another steel framed corridor. Agent Coulson led me down it, confident in his direction, as we made our way closer to a thick pair of metal double doors right at the end. As we got closer, my ears picked up the sound numerous voices talking from inside the room.
"I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men that I know into his personal flying monkeys." The voice speaking was deep and heavy sounding, definitely male.
"Monkeys?" this one was male too, but softer, more cultured, " I do not understand…"
"I do!" another piped in, male, soft and oddly familiar. The room fell silent for a second before the person finished with, " I..I understood that reference."
"Shall we play doctor?" A new voice joined the others and recognised it instantly; it was Mr Tony Stark.
Without pausing to knock, Agent Coulson stepped in front of me as we reached the door and opened them and strode through into the room that waited on the other side. The room was large, the control room of the ship by the looks of things. There were two levels to it. The lower level was filled with various desks, control panels, machinery and screens. A large group of people were sat at them, monitoring the screens, pressing buttons or levers when necessary. The higher level, which we were standing on now, was a fairly empty area save for a few control panels and a large desk situated at the centre of the space. Around this table, sat and stood some familiar and unfamiliar faces.
The first person I noticed was Tony Stark, dressed in a dark suit, standing beside another neatly attired man. They were both standing near the door and looked as though they were about to walk out of it until we had come striding into the door. The second thing I noticed was Captain America, mask-less and dressed in casual clothes, reclining in a chair at the large table at the centre of the room. Then I saw another guy standing on the opposite side of the spacious area. He was huge, muscled and dressed in clothes that could only be described as medieval, like out of theatrical play. His shoulders were wide and were covered with a long cape of crimson red down to his feet. His body was covered in a mass of black fabric and golden armour. His features were square, masculine and surrounded with blonde wavy hair and a short beard. To his left sat a young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties. She had short red hair and wore a black tight outfit, giving her a feminine but deadly appearance. Finally my gaze landed on the dark skinned man standing at the far right of the group. He wore a long leather black jacket and darker clothes to match underneath. His head was bald, shaven clean. Above his left eye was a patch that tide around to the back on his head.
They were all silent, looking between Agent Coulson who moved further into the room, and then to me, still standing at the door.
" Mr Fury," The Agent murmured to him as he passed the darker man, " She is here."
I shuffled my feet into the carpet, feeling awkward and anxious under their constant staring. I was grateful when the man Agent Coulson had referred to as 'Mr Fury' stepped forward and stuck his hand out to me.
" Miss Manning." His deep voice sounded heavy as he greeted me.
I coughed lightly, clearing my throat of the thickness that was suddenly clogging it. " Hi." It came out simply, shyly from my lips as my eyes kept glancing from face to face. I shook his hand and released it quickly.
Captain America's eyes widened at me disbelief and before anyone could say anything he was up and striding over to the darker man, Nick Fury, his brows furrowed with anger as he began to speak.
" What is she doing here?" His voice was lowered, filled with concern as he tried to whisper it so only the director could hear. I heard him, even from where I was standing near the door. It made me feel suddenly unwelcome, like I had no place to be here.
Fury turned to him and gave him a pointed look, " She is here, because I asked her to be here."
" What?" It was the woman, Natasha who spoke this time, her eyes were narrowed at Fury in a questioning manner, " What is that supposed to mean?"
Nick Fury, ignored them both, he looked to me, his dark eyes burning into me intently as he stepped closer to speak directly to me, and only to me.
" Miss Manning, thank you for coming here." He shrugged slightly, nonchalantly, " I am afraid it was a necessary cause of action. I understand you have a lot of questions on your mind. We will address them as we talk."
I just nodded at him, the empty silence of the room made my ears thrum and slick heat formed on the pads of my hands.
" Please," Fury motioned over to a chair by the table, " take a seat."
I did I was told. I stepped over carefully and slid out the chair, slowly lowering myself into it. I placed my hands on the hard wooden surface and waited as Fury took a seat directly in front of me across the table. I could still feel everyone's eyes planted on me, it was becoming overwhelming, not to mention annoying.
I sighed suddenly, loudly, when the emptiness became too much.
"Look." I started suddenly, looking to Fury as he sat himself down, " I'm not quite sure what you want," I frowned to myself, uncertain, " or why I came here in fact." I shrugged to them all, wanting them to understand, " I just came here to know that my family is safe." I glanced over to Agent Coulson and spoke to him, " You said my safety was being compromised." I shrugged and turned back to Fury, my eyes desperate, showing my confusion and anxiety, " After the last twenty four hours, I don't know how much more craziness I can take. I'm worried… for my friends… for my father. You understand this right?"
Fury remained still, he did not move an inch nor nod to agree to my question.
" The man you were trying to protect," He asked, " Is he a family member?"
I shook my head at him, "No, a friend." I began to explain, " He's been close to my family for a long time."
Fury nodded and looked me over for second, assessing me for something, but I wasn't quite sure what, " It must have taken a lot of guts for you to stand up to Loki." His features and expression did not change at all, " As you can imagine, he is not the sort to forgive and forget easy."
I frowned, trying to remember, " Loki?"
" The man who tried to attack you at the party."
I remembered then, the man, with the cool emerald eyes, who had crashed the party and tried to attack Harry. His name had been Loki; or so the others had called him. He had been a strange being, not fully human to my standards; as he could move with a speed no real human could achieve and he glowed golden as though he was made of it. Like he was made of something magical. I had met him on two occasions. The first time had been in the hallway of the manor, the second outside, when his hand had been around my throat. Just thinking about it made my neck ache with the memory.
" You have done the unthinkable, Miss Manning." Nick Fury brought me out of my thoughts again, and I glanced up to see him watching me, " Loki had come to steal a precious metal, Iridium." He paused, but I remained silent. I did not know what this 'Iridium' was; only that it must have been priceless if the man, Loki, had been willing to kill to achieve it.
Fury continued, " He had tried to create chaos and force submission. And you, a mere mortal woman in his eyes, had gotten in his way and stood against him."
I swallowed, not in fear, but in understanding of how dangerous a situation I had gotten myself into. These people were superhero's, spies and well trained Agents. But even they had the knowledge to fear or be wary of this Loki person.
" Understand that whilst he is here with us, captured and under our surveillance he may be patiently waiting for his moment, his chance of escape. And you…" He paused, giving me a pointed look, "… may become a victim of his wrath."
That was something I did not wish to hear in my life. What does this mean then? That I am in danger? A target for this man? I do not even know him!
" So, here is my proposition to you." Fury started again, leaning forward in his seat, placing his elbows across the table as though he meant business. " Allow us, S.H.I.E.L.D, to protect you and your family." His hands unclasped and splayed in a sign of harmlessness, " We can place you under high security. We will provide for you. We can send both you, your father and your friend to a remote part of the coast of south Australia…"
"Woah! Hang on a minute!" I blurted out suddenly, disbelieving and outrage at the same time. Australia? " I'm not going to hide, if that is what you are asking of me," I said to him clearly, leaving no room for argument, " Why should I? I haven't done anything wrong." I glanced over every face in the room watching us before turning back to Fury again, " We can't just simply up and move away somewhere, ok, my father works, he is a big investor in businesses! He can't and won't simply throw that away!"
I heard my voice rise, almost to the brink of shouting, but I did not care. I was more than pissed. Here I was, trying to figure this chaos out, trying to get a piece of my normal life back and these 'strangers' were trying to convince me to just drop my life and change it. All because of one night. All because of one, simple, man.
The distress must have been plastered all over my face because Captain America turned away from me, still standing beside the seated Nick Fury before he bent down and murmured angrily to him.
" Why have you done this?"
The dark skinned man, frowned, and slowly looked up at the Captain, unfazed by his question, " I have done this for her safety."
" Couldn't you have just left her alone?" The Captain spoke again. But I heard every word. "Loki probably won't even remember her face." He baby blues eyes flashed to me sympathetically before he turned away completely and said, " You have gone too far."
Fury, however, was still turned to him, staring at him. It was obvious he was disapproving of the other man's tone to him; he was obviously a man not used to having his motives questioned. "What would you have me do, Mr Rogers?"
A silence entered the room for a second, and all I could do was sit there, shuffling my feet lightly under the table whilst fiddling with the ends of my knee length dress. This was so awkward. I did not know what to say. What to think. I did not even know why I was here. If my safety was 'compromised', as they say, why were they not worrying about the other guests as well? Why where they not worried for my father, or Harry. They were important too, and were in just as much as a predicament as me. I peered from face to face; from baby blue, to brown, to black and then back again. Something was going on here. I was suspicious of them all. I felt it deep in the centre of my being. Something was not right with this picture Fury was trying to paint to me, but I could not figure out what it was.
" He's right." Came the clear, intelligent voice of Tony Stark from beside us. He stepped forward towards our table, one hand buried into the pocket of his dark suit as the other waved around enthusiastically, as though he was trying to prove a point, " We both saw the way Loki looked at her after our little wrestling match. He's got something planned." He pointed at me at one stage, " Whether it includes her or not, she is involved now."
" I'm not going to Australia." It came out, quiet, but firm as I stared down at my hands. I was not going to be moved on this matter. Was no one listening to me at all? Did my views not matter or something?
By the time I looked up, Stark was directly next to me, "Why not?" His voice was both charmingly smooth, yet at the same time filled with barely held back sarcasm, " You'll love it there. They've got sandy beaches, wallabies, kangaroos, nice beers and they have barbeques almost all day, every day."
I shook my head at him; he wasn't convincing me very well.
" Stark." We all rotated our heads towards the director, Nick Fury again. His dark disapproving eyes were glaring into Tony, and then they finally moved over to me.
"Miss Manning…" he started, clearly starting to sound annoyed, "something has to be done."
Without giving his idea further thought I simply shook my head at him and stood up from my chair, pushing it back into place under the table, "I won't," I stated, slowly, in clear English for him to understand, " and will not, go to Australia." I paused for second, letting it all soak into their heads, " End of."
"Then," it came out almost regretfully from Fury lips, " you leave us with no choice," He sighed and straightened himself out of his chair as well, " you will have to stay here with us until it is safe for you to return home."
That had everyone's attention instantly.
I froze, panicked, "What?"
" Once we have located and found the Tesseract you can go home." He gave me a hard look, " Until then… you are here."
Before I could stop myself a burst of breathless and mirthless laughter came from my throat, "Don't you think this all a bit over the top?"
" No." Fury answered, simply, easily.
" Yes." It came from behind me and had sounded like Captain Americas voice.
I slumped my shoulders and lifted my hands to the rest of the group, as though silently pleading for their support, to make this crazy man before understand that all of this was not necessary. When none of them spoke or moved, I lifted a hand to my forehead and rubbed it, trying to gather some of my sanity back. "This is crazy." I mumbled to no one in particular. A few moments passed, I tore my eyes up again to the large dark skinned man who was watching me silently. Perhaps this was for the best? They are only thinking of you, Jessie. I shrugged, " What about my dad?"
Something passed across his dark eyes then. Some, hidden intelligent thought, some knowledge buried deep inside. The pause he created was far too long for my liking. He simply stood there for moment, thinking, planning, before he simply stepped away from the table and began to walk over to the other side of the room where some of the others stood.
My eyes followed him, filled with suspicion and wariness as he stopped between the two large figures of the blond bearded medieval man and the suited man who had been talking with Mr Stark before I had come into the room.
"Enough of the questions for now," Fury turned back to face me, the patch on his eye prominent under the luminescent light above his head, " Let me introduce you to the members of S.H.I.E.L.D," he made a small gesture around to them all, " you must be wondering who we all are…"
" Please, allow me."
I whipped my head round to Tony Stark who had spoken; I had almost forgotten he was still standing beside me. He moved closer to me with a warm and charming smile spread across his neat bearded face.
" Stark." It came out a low warning from Fury.
" What?" Tony said, looking to him in an innocent fashion, " I'm being nice?" He looked to me again " I can be charming when I want to be." And then he murmured under his breath, " We're not all miserable like you, Nicky boy."
I heard the director of S.H.I.E.L.D make a low sound of displeasure before saying, " Remember the code, Stark. She only needs to know the basic information about us."
The smile on Starks face grew before he held out his hand to me in greeting. I shook it slowly, awkwardly.
"So…" he started, confidently, as though we were old friend, " Hi, I'm Tony Stark."
I nodded, "Yes, I've heard of you."
His dark eyes lit up at that in delight, " Great!" He chirped happily, turning to one side to throw his arm about my shoulder in an overly friendly way, " That practically makes us family." He said down to me, his height and arm weighing me down beside him. He began to guide me further into the room, towards his small group of comrades as they followed us with their eyes, " Do you like shawarma?"
I frowned up at him. The strange, random question had come out of the blue. Swar - What? What the hell was he talking about? Before I could answer him he was answering for me.
" No? I can't say I've ever tried it myself." He stopped suddenly, and rotated both himself and me to face the waiting group of males and the red haired female.
" Now," Stark took a deep breath as though preparing for some brilliant and out-of-this-world speech. He pointed to Captain America at the far end, " Sir Lancelot over there is Captain America as you probably already know as well. Unlike me, he has no money, no intelligence and likes to spend most of his time wearing tight spangly outfits." He leant down towards me and whispered, "He's a bit weirdo, steer clear of him." He then pointed over to the red haired woman, " The delightful yet deadly lady to your right is Natasha Romanoff AKA The Black Widow." He pointed to the huge medieval blond man, " The big hairy guy over here is Thor, the god of Thunder. His brother, Loki, is trying to take over the world." He pointed up towards the heaven way, " Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye, who is not here presently, is the reincarnation of Prince Legolas. Oh!" He finally gestured over to the quiet dark haired suited man at the far left, " and this guy over here is Bruce Banner, he is a genius physician and scientist that turns into a big green angry thing that likes to break stuff."
I stood silent. Wordless. Breathless. And utterly confused. All I could do was nod slowly at him. Riiiiiiiight, I think I'm in a nut house.
Stark frowned and peered around suddenly in a camp like fashion, "Have I missed anyone out?"
No one answered him, they were too busy sending glares and scowls in his direction.
I blinked up at him. Then looked at the Others. Then back to Stark. My head was hurting. I was more confused than ever. I wanted to go home. I wanted to see my doctor; for my growing headache, and for my mental instability.
" Stark…" It was Nick Fury who finally broke the silence, "You're an asshole."
