No Warnings
Chapter 4:
Shoot to Thrill played in Eli's ears, and to her right she could see Tony flying in. Eli could feel Loki's fingers loosen. The small girl took the opportunity to duck down and push herself away from Loki.
As Eli jumped back, Loki aimed the scepter at Tony, but Tony was quicker to the trigger. Tony's hand repulsor blasted Loki back. The scepter flew out of Loki's hand and landed just a few feet away from Eli. Tony landed next to Captain America.
"Make a move Reindeer Games," Tony said as he aimed missiles at Loki. With Tony, the captain and the Quinjet hovering over him, Loki held up his hands in surrender and his cape and helmet vanished. "Good move."
"Mr. Stark," Captain America said.
"Captain," Tony said. Eli huffed in disbelief. There was no way Loki would just give up. Eli was going to tell them not to let their guard down, but she could suddenly see Tony's angry face.
"I thought I told you that I better not see you when I got here," Tony had effectively let his guard down. Eli sighed and picked up the scepter.
"You told me to leave," Eli started, "that only made me want to see what was going to happen. Tell Agent Romanoff to send paramedics to the museum. Doktor Schafer is missing eye."
Eli walked up to the two heroes. She turned to look at Loki. Eli examined him closely. He wasn't even trying to escape. This made Eli angry. For the life of her she couldn't explain why she was angry over him not even trying to fight back. She had always hated it when the bad guy tried to escape from her, but Eli could tell that this time it was a different kind of angry.
"Would you please explain what's going on now?" Eli was glaring at Tony. Tony glared right back.
"No, you are going back to your hotel room, packing your bags and going back to the States!" Tony's voice was rising.
"Not even if you begged me," Eli was straining to keep her voice down. Eli glanced at Captain America and then at Loki. Loki was looking at her. More specifically at her bleeding arm, the arm that happened to be holding his scepter. Eli spun the scepter behind her back so she could hold it in her right hand. Then an idea slipped into her head.
"Okay, I'll go, but I'm taking this with," Eli motioned to the scepter in her hand.
"Kornelia, put the weapon down," Eli heard Natasha say from the P.A. system of the Quinjet. Eli only smiled up at the jet. She then turned on her heel back toward the museum. Someone grabbed onto the scepter.
"I'm sorry Miss, but I can't let you take this," Captain America said. Eli laughed at the déjà vu she was experiencing. She had said similar words to Loki. Eli looked at Tony, and pulled hard on the scepter. It caused the captain to lurch forward, but he didn't let go.
"Like I said, it goes with me," Eli smiled pleasantly at Captain America. She pulled on the scepter one more time and forced it out of the super soldier's hands. The look on his face was priceless. Eli began walking again. "But I would give it back if you just explained what was going on."
"Kornelia, stop being a brat and give me the glow stick now!" Tony was angry, but Eli knew that Tony would never intentionally hurt her.
"Okay, let's get a few things straight. Granted I disobeyed you by staying here, I got my ass handed to me by a random, seemingly crazy, man. And if that's not all, Jarvette's readings show that he isn't a mutant. And excuse me if I feel a little offended right now by that. So, I want answers, and will get them even if I have to take S.H.I.E.L.D. down a few pegs." Eli was gripping the scepter loosely incase she needed to use it as a pseudo-Bo staff. Eli's watch started to burn her wrist, and Eli internally cursed Jarvis.
"That hurts you know!" Eli said fixing a glare at Tony. "All I want are answers. How hard is it to just give me them? And, in case you haven't noticed yet, I'm pretty sure that Schafer's iridium supply has been stolen; and I have information on what it's applications are."
Tony and Captain America looked at each other for a moment. Tony then walked up to Eli and took the scepter out of her hand and motioned her to follow them. The burning in her wrist stopped soon after. Tony gave Captain America the scepter and then lifted Loki up from the ground. Natasha lowered the Quinjet so that the small group could board it. Natasha was angrily staring at Eli.
"Explain why he needs the iridium," she ordered.
"I acquired a journal yesterday; it was written by a German scientist who had worked on his research during World War II. He describes a cube of immense power and its possible locations." Eli started when she was cut off.
"You mean Johann Schmidt," Steve Rogers said.
"Actually no, it was a Doktor Ulrich Von Wolfgang, but I'm almost positive Doktor Schmidt was involved with Wolfgang's research. Wolfgang mentions him several times. It was actually Schmidt's notes that lead me to look into Wolfgang.
"You see, Wolfgang was a scientist who was heavily influenced by ancient cultures. Especially Viking mythology," Eli glanced at Loki. "He believed that the Vikings hid several objects of great power for their gods. Wolfgang was interested in using this cube as an energy source.
"The end of his journal is filled with paranoid scribbles about a man with a red face trying to steal his research. A few months after Wolfgang's last entries, there are reports of weapons of immense destruction sprouting up under a secret German organization called Hydra. Which I'm sure you are familiar with," Eli motioned to Steve.
"No one is supposed to know about Hydra," Natasha said from the front of the Quinjet. "How do you know about them?"
"Men keep journals of their adventures," Eli answered simply. "Now, Schmidt was able to, in a sense stabilize, the power of this cube right? He used metals that aren't normally found on Earth. Wolfgang lists possible metals that could be used to lock away the cube's power. Iridium, vibranium, adamantium, and several others were on this list.
"If the Vikings were really hiding this cube, then it would have to have been hidden by one of those metals."
"How is that important?" Steve asked. Tony sighed and rolled his eyes.
"You aren't very sciencey are you?" Eli asked. "Don't worry, Tony understood what it means…he can explain it to you later. He," Eli motioned to Loki, "obviously isn't a mutant and the cube is definitely real, so what the hell happened?"
"Last year around the same time that you started the inhibitor trials we had visitors from another world. Specifically from Asgard. No one from Asgard returned after the battle, until yesterday…" Natasha explained. Eli watched Loki closely. He was being quiet, and doing nothing but sitting there. Eli sighed and caught her reflection in the cockpit widows. Her dress was all but destroyed from the scepter and her arm was covered in blood.
"Do you have anything I can change into in here?" Eli asked Natasha.
"Check in the back. There should be at least one spare uniform," Natasha said distractedly. Eli moved past Tony and Steve. They were both glaring at Loki.
"Captain Rogers," Eli said as she looked through the compartments in the Quinjet, "did you actually met Johann Schmidt and seen what the Hydra weapons could do first hand?"
Eli found the spare uniform and started to change in the back of the Quinjet. Steve sputtered and quickly turned around. Eli gave a small laugh at his reaction. Eli traced her fingers around the closing wound of her stomach, and then inspected her arm.
"Does she realize that she is changing in front of three men?" Steve said in disbelief.
"She does what she wants," Tony said. His voice was teeming with anger. "Eli doesn't listen so it's useless to try and stop her…"
Eli rolled her eyes at Tony's words. If she was in any real danger, Eli would avoid it. Eli thought that life needed a little excitement every once in a while. Eli noticed that Loki was staring at her healing wounds.
"I mistook you for a mutant. To be honest, when I found out that you weren't one, I was very angry. You see, most humans can't even put a scratch on my clothes, let alone actually injuring me. I'm glad to hear that you are in fact not human." Eli let her dress drop from her body completely. Loki watched the motion, and Eli felt as though her heart did a flip in her chest. She would never show that it happened, though. Eli leveled her blue eyes with Loki's green ones when he looked up.
"Still though, I'm not at a complete disadvantage. Despite not being at my full strength, I have retained some of my former abilities. For example, my regenerative abilities seem to still be working."
Eli pulled on the S.H.I.E.L.D. jumper and slowly zipped it up. Loki's eyes followed the motion, and Eli could feel her stomach do a flip. Again, Eli would not show her reaction. She wondered what he was thinking as he watched her put her clothes on. Hope bubbled in her chest for a small moment; hope that Loki enjoyed seeing her undress.
Eli crushed down that hope just as quickly as it had appeared. Eli still wanted to know what he was thinking though. Charles Xavier's face forced its way into the forefront of Eli's mind. Telepathy hadn't been one of the abilities Eli used often. She wasn't sure if she could use it while under the Mutant X-Gene Inhibitor's influence. She would try thought.
Eli braced herself and opened her mind to her surroundings. All she could hear was fuzz. Pushing her mind a little harder toward Tony, Eli was able to hear a voice that sounded like Tony but it was incoherent. Frustrated, Eli sat down directly across from Loki without breaking eye contact from him, and concentrated a little harder.
A very angry Tony was thinking about Eli's behavior, about Pepper, and about standing next to someone his father idolized; among things. Eli then focused in on Loki. She wanted to see what was in his head and she was determined to see what laid there.