Hey guys, can't say I'm not disappointed at the lack of reviews, but I'll continue nevertheless!
Much thanks to TheMagentaColor for her review; I agree, Riley should definetly knock both of them out (especially Stark haha). Thank you!
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Riley made her way back up the stairs to the lab, her heart pounding painfully hard in her chest. His last words had legitimately frightened her: "You'll eventually give in. They always do." She shook the thought away, trying to mask her alarm; it wouldn't do well to express any sign of weakness at a time like this.
She swung the lab door open, only to walk into the middle of a heated argument. Thor, Natasha, Steve, Tony, and Dr. Banner were accusing Fury of lying to them about something.
"Did you know about this?" demanded Dr. Banner.
"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" Natasha intervened.
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed," the doctor answered smoothly.
"Loki's manipulating you."
"And you've been doing what exactly?
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha pointed out.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy."
"Whoa, whoa, what's going on?" said Riley, and everyone in the room jerked their heads toward her in surprise, evidently not noticing her presence.
"Hey, Rover," said Tony with a small whistle. Riley glared at him.
"Do you really want to start this again—?"
"I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction," said Dr. Banner, cutting across Riley.
Fury hesitated, then pointed his index finger accusingly at Thor. "Because of him."
"Me?" said Thor, looking over his shoulder, bemused.
"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge mass that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out gunned."
Thor shook his head. "My people want nothing but peace with your planet."
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled," said Fury reasonably.
"Like you controlled the cube?" said Steve.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it," said Thor, "and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."
"A higher form?"
Fury shrugged. "You forced our hand. We had to come up with something."
"A nuclear deterrent, cause," said Tony, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "that always calms everything right down."
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" said Fury.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep..." Steve muttered.
"Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?" Tony snarled.
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"
"Steve, don't stir up another argument—" Riley protested.
"If I want your help, Lassie, I'll whistle for you," Tony retorted.
"Oh-ho, you're just asking for it now—" Riley warned.
"Leave her out of it—" Steve growled.
Thor shook his head in annoyance. "I thought humans were more evolved than this."
Fury turned on him sharply. "Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"
That's when the arguments escalated. Everyone began talking over each other, all having their own input on the conversation, but it was almost impossible to tell who was who.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," said Thor.
"It's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're...we're a time-bomb," Dr. Banner mentioned.
"You need to step away."
"Why shouldn't they guy let off a little steam?" said Tony, resting a hand on Steve's shoulder.
"You know damn well why! Back off!" Steve snapped, slapping his hand sharply away.
"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."
"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."
"Don't forget egotistical, arrogant, and a prat," Riley added, and Tony turned to disagree, but Steve didn't give him the chance.
"She's right. I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
"I think I would just cut the wire."
"Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
"A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."
Steve's expression hardened. "Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."
"This is just stupid," said Riley, "you're going to waste all of your energy—"
Thor laughed.
"You people are so petty, and tiny."
"Yeah, this is a tee..."
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his..."
"Where? You're renting my room."
"The cell was just..."
"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know, I tried." The room suddenly fell uncomfortably silent, and Bruce awkwardly crossed his arms over his chest before continuing. "I got low, I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk...You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" Dr. Banner's expression was dark now, and he had reached subconsciously back to pick up Loki' scepter, which he clenched tightly in his hand. His aura had skyrocketed, filled to the brim by alarmingly fast-increasing rage.
Riley felt a combination of pity and caution arise in her as she took a step back. She could feel heat beginning to hum in her hands, prepared in the event that he might lose it. She knew how he felt, being treated like a weapon of sorts, unable to control certain emotions. That was the exact reason she stopped working for SHIELD…but that didn't mean she wasn't about to let her guard down.
"Dr. Banner, put down the scepter," said Steve calmly.
At that same moment, the computer flashed a signal for locating the Tesseract. Dr. Banner stared at the scepter in mild surprise, put it down, and walked towards the computer monitor.
"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my party trick after all."
"Located the Tesseract?"
"I can get there faster.
"Look, all of us..." Steve began.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard; no human is a match for it."
"Thor's right," said Riley, peering up at him. Even if she was only half-Asgardian, she knew full well that any object from their world was not to be tampered with by humans, "none of you would be able to control it."
Stark turned to leave, but Steve stopped him.
"You're not going alone!"
"You gonna stop me?" Tony challenged.
Steve's aura was now burning with fury.
"Put on the suit, let's find out."
Tony smirked. "I'm not afraid to hit an old man. "
"Put on the suit."
Riley rolled her eyes. There was just absolutely no getting through to the two of them. Two giant man-children, honestly...
At that moment, Dr. Banner, who was looking at the monitor, seemed to notice something about the Tesseract, as indicated by an audible gasp.
"Oh, my God!"
Suddenly, the ship gave an enormous jerk, sending everyone thrown in all directions. Riley slammed into the ground on her shoulder, hard, feeling very much like a rag doll. Before she could so much as right herself, the flooring beneath her crumbled. She gave a yelp of surprise as she plummeted downwards along with piles of debris, landing flat on her face on the ground. Warm blood swelled from a cut on her cheek.
A vision flashed through Riley's mind in under a few seconds, but it was all she needed; in that split-second, she'd seen the other Agent that worked with Natasha (Barton, was it?) shooting an explosive arrow at the ship, blowing one of the engines.
Riley shook her head twice in an attempt to clear it before blinking her eyes open. Odd...visions of that extent had never happened before, and certainly not with someone so far away...
She was lying beside Natasha, who was currently trapped under a pile of rubble. Next to her lay Dr. Banner. However, something was obviously wrong with the man…He was trembling violently, his hands clenched on his head, his expression one of clear hatred. Riley could sense an overwhelming emotion of rage again, only this time, so overpowering that she herself began to feel the same. No! Riley thought, suppressing the sensation fearfully. She'd never experienced such an intense aura before…Apparently if it was strong enough, the emotion could consume Riley herself, making her feel the same way. No—no, just calm down, don't give in—
"Doctor?" What frightened Riley even further was that Natasha's own voice, for the first time, sounded apprehensive. "Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. Listen to me."
Dr. Banner hesitated for a split-second, and Riley felt the aura lessen some. Was he trying to restrain from transforming?
"We're gonna be okay. Right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never—"
Suddenly Banner's aura accelerated violently. "Your life?" he growled angrily.
"Bruce—"
Dr. Banner's clothes began to tear, ripping apart from his body as it grew, turning a horrible dark green. His expression darkened, and the muscles in his arms bulged out to ten times their size. Riley stared up at him, terrified.
"Riley—" Natasha was struggling under the pile of rubble, jerking violently back and forth as she tried to free herself. "Help—"
Brave, strong Natasha Romanoff, pleading for Riley's assistance. She must be trapped pretty deep.
Riley hastily reached forward and began pushing frantically on the object atop Natasha, mustering all the strength within her. The roar of the Hulk behind her intensified her panic, and she gave it one last hard shove. The heavy item rolled off of Natasha with a loud creaking noise. The woman struggled free, taking Riley's free arm to steady herself to her feet.
But it was a second too late; Dr. Banner was now fully transformed into the Hulk, towering over the two of them like an enormous green boulder. Riley and Natasha gawked up at him fearfully, waiting to see if he had any control. He gave a massive bellow, his teeth bared angrily, and began to advance on them.
Yeah, I'd say he's lost control.
"Oh, shit!"
Riley took off running at top speed, but her leg was weighing her down; it felt as though she had pulled something in it, or in the very least injured it in her fall from the ground above. But she wasn't about to stop now—she could practically feel the Hulk's hot breath panting on the back of her neck, could hear his horrible roaring echoing in her ears…
Natasha was keeping her pace up well, but Riley noticed she was about a second behind her. Perhaps it was one of the perks of being half-Asgardian, she decided, since she had a feeling that without the god blood, the short, overweight writer would not stand a chance against the highly-trained, athletic agent.
Riley half-turned her body as she ran, feeling the familiar hot sensation in her palms, and she took aim at the Hulk. A large, powerful scarlet orb of light soared out of her hands, drilling straight into her target. The green creature staggered, shaking his head several times, but his furious aura merely rocketed. His muscles rippled up his thick olive arms, and he charged faster than before.
"Great idea, Harrow!" Natasha hollered at Riley as they sprinted through the dark room, their feet pounding hard on the ground.
"Didn't see you tossing out any plans!" Riley shouted back.
But the blast had indeed stopped the Hulk for a moment, giving them more time to get away. This, however, was a small victory, for the second she turned the corner, she found herself skidding to a halt. She had reached a dead end.
"Uh-oh."
What was more...where had Natasha gone? Riley turned just in time to see the agent come flying in her direction, having been evidently smacked, hard, by one of the Hulk's massive fists.
Natasha sank to her knees, winded and clearly in pain, as the Hulk rounded the corner, his face contorted in fuming rage. It was pretty noticeable now how afraid the agent really was, and Riley couldn't blame her, seeing as the woman only had a gun, which did basically nothing against the monster.
Riley raised her arms shakily above her head, creating a gigantic, crimson mass of energy over them, preparing to hurl it into him, with the knowledge in her mind that it was probably no use. The Hulk bolted straight for them at top speed, raising one fist in kind, ready to strike the two of them straight into next week—
At the last second, Thor came plowing through into the room and grabbed the Hulk, knocking him through the wall and away from them.
"We're not your enemies, Banner! Try to think!" Riley heard Thor shout, but his voice was followed by an Oof! as he had apparently been punched.
Riley exhaled a sigh of relief as she allowed the red energy to return to the palms of her hands. "That was way too close."
But Natasha said nothing. Riley peered down at the agent, who was sitting slumped over on the floor, trembling slightly. She made no attempt to mask the sheer terror in her expression.
"All right?" Riley asked, kneeling down hesitantly.
Natasha's frightened beryl eyes met Riley's brown for a fleeting second before looking away again. "F…f-fine," she said, her voice unsteady.
Riley thought for a moment. "Why don't you stay here and recover? I'll go help Thor out, and I'll call you on my earpiece if I need you."
Natasha hesitated. "That's…y-yeah. Sure," she mumbled shakily.
Riley nodded. She leapt through the hole in the wall Thor had created, wincing as her hurt leg hit the ground. It wasn't hard to spot Thor and the Hulk, who were engaged in serious combat. The pair were practically taking turns, Thor taking a swing at him with his hammer and the Hulk returning the favor with his fists.
The Hulk lifted the nearest object to him and flung it straight at Thor with all his might. Riley's eyes locked onto it just in time, and she re-directed it away from them, letting it crash onto the ground some feet away. Thor frowned in bewilderment, possibly wondering if he had done that.
"Need a hand?" Riley called. Thor turned and shot her a heart-stopping grin, but in the next second, he was back in battle-mode, hurling his hammer at the Hulk.
The three of them fought in a circle, but Riley kept her distance from the Hulk as she did so, not wanting to get too close just in case. Instead, she conducted the objects in the room, smashing them into him and lifting the ones in his hand away before he could use it against them.
Suddenly, one of the SHIELD pilot planes soared down toward the gap in the end of the room, descending low. The pilot began to try to shoot the Hulk from his jet outside the ship.
"No! Stop!" Riley screamed at the pilot, but she knew he couldn't hear her.
"Don't worry, Harrow," a voice in Riley's earpiece spoke, startling her. It was Fury. "All part of the plan."
Riley couldn't see how this plan could be in any way sensible as the Hulk leapt out of the ship, landing on the jet's nose. He began tearing it violently apart, seizing the pilot as he tried to eject from it. Finally, after a fairly short struggle between the two, the plane plummeted down, taking the Hulk with it.
Riley's hands flew up to her mouth. "He'll be okay—right?" she demanded, turning to Thor for reassurance.
Thor considered the situation for a moment. "I am sure that he will be just fine, Riley."
Riley had a feeling he was mostly just trying to make her feel better, but she was glad for his attempt regardless. "Right."
"Frightened?" Thor suggested, grinning down at her.
Riley glanced to her right, where a giant sheet of metal had fallen, and scrutinized her appearance: Pale as all get out, sweat stained, and trembling slightly. "Guess it's kind of obvious, huh?" she said, returning the smile with a smaller one and rubbing the back of her neck. "The daughter of a demigod and I can't even stop shaking. Pret-ty sad."
Thor laughed, not unkindly. "Even Asgardians have flaws. Nothing to be ashamed of."
Riley opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out. She was saved having to think of something, however, as a voice in her ear said, "It's Barton, he took our systems. He's headed for the detention lab. Does anybody copy?"
"This is Agent Romanoff. I copy," Natasha's voice echoed in their earpieces.
"What now?" said Riley, turning to Thor for directions.
"Now we stop Loki."
The pair raced back down through the winding helicarrier, toward the area where Loki was imprisoned. Moving fast, Thor yanked the door open and he stormed in, just in time to see the door to Loki's cage sliding open.
"No!"
Thor rocketed forward, hurtling himself into the cage at Loki, but to his and Riley's surprise, he went straight through The God of Mischief. His image vanished in a watery ripple.
"Thor!" Riley shouted, racing into the room. The real Loki materialized a few feet away from the cage, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" said Loki calmly.
Riley rounded on Loki, raising her hands again. A large blast of red light illuminated the room, firing straight into Loki's chest. Yet again, his image flickered into nothingness and a third Loki appeared at the control panel, his expression amused.
"The half-blood thinks she has a chance against a god," said Loki, his grin widening, "just because she has a touch of Asgardian in her."
"No, I think I have a chance because you're an overconfident git," said Riley, raising one hand again. "Now get the hell away from the controls or I'll blast every last one of your clones till I find the real one."
Loki chuckled coldly, sending an icy chill down Riley's spine. "I like this one," he said to his brother, as he grazed his fingers slowly across the buttons before him, still smiling. "Your attempts to hide your fear are pretty entertaining, I must say…The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?" He placed his hand over the button that would send Thor plunging out of the ship.
"No—!" Riley began, creating another orb of energy in her hands. However, just as Loki was about to open the hole in the middle of the glass cell, Coulson suddenly appeared, holding a very large, dangerous-looking weapon in his hands.
"Move away, please."
Loki very slowly moved away from the switch, but Riley could sense a different aura rising in Loki…From what she could tell, he was definitely unfazed by the gun, despite his outward appearance. But did Coulson know that?
"Phil, be careful," Riley warned, still holding one hand out in front of her.
Coulson nodded his acknowledgement to her. "You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent The Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does...Do you wanna find out?"
And that's when the entire world crumbled to dust and debris around Riley. In under a second, before Riley could even move an inch, Loki had teleported directly behind Coulson, stabbing his scepter directly into the man's back, through his heart.
"PHIL!" Riley shrieked. There was no way that had just happened—it was impossible, there was just no way that it was possible—
"NOOO!" Thor shouted, banging on the cage walls, his expression deeply anguished.
Riley let go of the sphere forming in her hands, letting it fly at Loki, who ducked out of the way just in time. Her eyes ablaze with anger and fresh tears, she charged at him.
Loki hit the button hard, opening the hole in the cell, and dropped Thor out of the ship trapped in the glass cage.
"Thor!" Riley changed directions, moving toward the gaping hole in the ground. Coulson was beyond help, there was no denying that—but if she could just lock her eyes onto the cage, she could lift it back up and prevent it from hitting the ground—
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Loki's silky voice whispered in Riley's ear, and she jumped with a muffled yelp, startled. He was standing directly behind her, so close that his shoulders touched the back of hers and his abdomen pressed into her lower back.
She drew her knee up and kicked back hard, but her foot didn't even make impact with him. Two lean arms seized her own and pinned them to her sides with surprising strength. Riley struggled violently against them, but she ceased the moment she felt the scepter cross her throat. She froze, petrified, but it did not break her skin.
"If you're planning on killing me, why not just do it?" Riley hissed back boldly, but on the inside, her heart was pounding so fast and so loudly that she could barely hear herself think.
Loki laughed cold air softly into her ear and she winced. "Because it seems that curiosity has gotten the better of both of us, hasn't it, Miss Harrow?"
"What do you mean by—?"
But Loki released his grip on her and, with a hard shove, knocked her to the ground. She gasped as her bad leg hit the floor, but she was more shocked than anything. Had he just…let her go? But why? He could easily cut her throat on the spot, right there, like tearing a sheet of paper.
"You'll figure it out for yourself soon enough, I'm sure," said Loki, and with that, he swept toward the door. Riley limply hoisted herself off of the ground, raising her right hand, but now merely faint, halfhearted sparks were forming in it.
"You're gonna lose."
Riley looked up in surprise to see Coulson, still alive but in bad condition, staring up at Loki confidently.
"Am I?" said Loki, turning his attention to Coulson.
"It's in your nature."
"Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky..." He gave a smug smile. "Where is my disadvantage?"
"Your lack conviction."
For the first time, Loki looked insulted. "I don't think I..."
Suddenly, a giant ball of fire blasted Loki through the wall behind him with such a force that the ground shook. Riley looked up in shock to see Coulson holding the new weapon in his hands, smiling faintly. "So that's what it does."
"Coulson!" Riley staggered unsteadily to her feet, wobbling over to Coulson's side. "Phil—hang in there, buddy, don't—don't go out on me."
But Coulson just continued to smile ever-so-slightly up at her. "It's too late."
"No. No, it's not." Riley pressed her earpiece down with two fingers. "Fury! Coulson is down, I repeat, Coulson is down!" She placed one hand against his chest, feeling the warm, sticky blood wet the palm of her hand.
"You're going to be fine," said Riley, but her confidence was falling fast. "I've called in help—I'm going after Loki. And damn it, don't you dare die on me while I'm gone!" she added, but Coulson shook his head.
"It was honestly a true pleasure working with you, Agent Harrow."
"Riley. And stop talking like that! I already told you, you're fine."
"Right, Riley," breathed Phil, his eyes half-open now. "Just go and stop him."
Riley nodded, feeling a stir of guilt in the pit of her stomach, and she leapt through the hole where Loki had crashed through. She picked her way through the rubble, but he was nowhere to be seen. Determined, she climbed up through the second hole in the room, where she presumed he'd climbed through, but when she reached the top, she was greeted with nothing but the wind howling in her ears and the sounds of the battle to keep the ship up raging on.
Coulson's death had been for nothing. Loki had escaped nevertheless, and he was on the run again. Riley felt hot tears well up in her eyes, and she undid her earpiece just for the moment, so that she may be granted a moment to cry uninterrupted.
…
This chapter took me way longer than it should have. Just saying.
Reviews appreciated, as well as favorites. I'll post the next chapter as soon as I possibly can.