Author's Notes: I just wanted to clarify, this is not a cross-over with the existing X-men movies. Miranda's mutant background is my own personal mixture taken from various comics, cartoons and movies. You will see why later on ;)
Chapter 4: Behind the Shield
The deck of the floating carrier was a whirlwind of activity as Agent Coulson and Captain Rogers made their way down the quinjet ramp. Everywhere Rogers looked, SHIELD agents were running, marching or securing jets to the runway. Over the din he could hear the familiar sounds of marching orders. The wave of nostalgia it brought on hit him like a blow to the gut. It had not been easy to wake up and discover that everything he had ever known was gone.
Peggy Carter was still alive, but she refused to see him. He didn't blame her. She had moved on with her life just as the rest of the world had moved on after he disappeared. Now Captain Steve Rogers was stuck trying to find his place, if there was even a place for him at all.
At the bottom of the quinjet's ramp stood the most beautiful red head Roger's had ever seen. As much as Steve had changed from the super soldier serum, a part of him was still very much the shy, scrawny man he was all those years ago. But there was also something more to the woman than just her beauty. He had a feeling that the red head was far more dangerous then she seemed.
"Agent Romanoff," Coulson presented, "Captain Rogers."
"Ma'am." Steve nodded respectfully.
Agent Romanoff sized him up, assessing him with a discerning eye. Captain Rogers knew that look. It was the look of a trained killer. She was appraising him for strengths and weaknesses. In a span of a few seconds, she had probably already found at least five ways to subdue him and another five to kill him.
When Romanoff seemed to have found what she was looking for, she responded coolly, "Hi."
Turning to Agent Coulson, she asked, "Where is Dr. Prospero?"
Before either man could respond, a loud shriek of dismay issued from within the quinjet's cabin, "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Don't you know which side is up!? Put it down, NOW!"
Natasha Romanoff cocked an eyebrow at the outburst. It was probably the strongest reaction Rogers had seen her give since he met her. Were all of SHIELD's agents like this, emotionally inert?
"She insisted on overseeing the unloading of her personal equipment," Coulson supplied, a mirthful smile on his face. Frantic activity could be seen from within the jet as the hapless SHIELD agents tried to keep up with Dr. Prospero's instructions.
Natasha shrugged. She had read the personality profile on Dr. Prospero. The woman was an unparalleled genius, but did not seem capable of putting much trust in others. Not an uncommon trait for a mutant.
Looking to Agent Coulson, Romanoff informed him that he was needed on the bridge. "I will take care of Dr. Prospero once she is done micromanaging," she assured him.
With a "see you there", Agent Coulson left Rogers with one of the most deadly assassins on SHIELD's payroll.
"There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice," Natasha began conversationally as the two strolled over the deck. "I thought Coulson was going to swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"
Steve looked at her askance, "Trading cards?"
"They're vintage," she confirmed. "He's very proud."
From across the way, Steve noticed a man apart from all the uniformed SHIELD personnel. He wore a crumpled gray suit with a wrinkled purple button down shirt. His disheveled mop of dark brown hair was peppered with premature gray and his face was lined with care lines. Everywhere the man turned, he seemed to run into someone. He looked and acted like a mouse surrounded by cats. And all of a sudden, Rogers realized who he was.
"Dr. Banner," Steve called out as he walked over and offered his hand to the skittish man.
Dr. Banner gave the proffered hand a wary look before finally deciding to accept it, "Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming."
"Word is you can help find the cube."
"Is that the only word on me?" Banner asked uncomfortably.
"Only word I care about," Steve confirmed. It surprised him how much Banner's reaction was like Miranda's own. Trust was going to be hard to come by on this odd team of super humans.
Banner took in the sentiment. He was still uncertain of the man, but hell, he was uncertain about everyone, especially himself. It came from years of being hunted like an animal, never being entirely sure if he had a lid on the other guy.
"Hey!" Captain Rogers called to someone, interrupting Bruce's thoughts. "Miranda! Over here!" He waved at a woman exiting a quinjet with several harried looking SHIELD agents carefully carting three crates.
The woman was short and wore a simple black pant suit with a light blue blouse that complemented her blue rimmed glasses. As she drew closer, Banner could see that her softly featured face was delicately lined with care lines similar to his own. But what immediately drew his attention were her eyes. They were the color of the arctic sky, inhumanly ice blue and cold.
"Dr. Banner, Agent Romanoff," Rogers introduced, "this is Dr. Miranda Prospero."
Of course, Banner had heard about Dr. Prospero. She had been making quite a stir in electrical engineering and theoretical physics for years now. He never would have suspected that she was a mutant, and a powerful one at that.
Just like with Captain Rogers, Bruce warily took the woman's proffered hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Prospero. Your last paper on the application of alternative forms of energy for nano-circuitry was revolutionary."
"I am glad you thought so," Miranda said ruefully, smiling at the man. "If only the grant board felt the same way."
From behind them, Agent Romanoff cleared her throat. With a mischievous glint in her eye, she addressed the group of uncanny individuals, "You all may want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little harder to breath."
A low rumble began to shake the deck of the carrier. The exterior of the ship became a whirlwind of activity as many SHIELD agents frantically finished their tasks before making their way into the bowels of the structure while others donned strange breathing masks. From the side of the ship an odd whrrring sound could be heard.
"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked, amazed. Even the largest U-boat he had ever seen was only a tenth of the size of this ship.
"Really?" Bruce asked skeptically. "They want me in a submerged, pressurized container?"
Normally, Miranda would have rejoiced at the idea of being surrounded by water. It was her element after all and she always felt safer when she had easy access to a water source. However, to be trapped inside a sub with Dr. Banner did give her some cause for alarm. She had spent enough time dealing with dangerous, barely contained super humans to recognize a bad situation when she saw one. After all, it took one to know one.
Slowly, Miranda crept toward the edge of the carrier and her jaw dropped. "You guys may want to see this," she said, motioning at the men to join her.
Together, they peered over the edge and into the water. Far below them a large turbine was churning the water, creating a deafening noise as it whipped the wind around their faces. Slowly, the propeller lifted itself out of the water, taking the carrier with it.
"Oh no," Bruce yelled sarcastically over the noise of the machine, "This is much worse!"
As the group made their way across the deck of the Helicarrier, Rogers noticed how quiet and pale Miranda was. He watched as the woman clenched and unclenched her hands in a rapid, nervous rhythm.
Once Natasha closed and bolted the door behind them Dr. Prospero snapped, turning on the agent in a rage. She looked like she was out for blood. Her eyes, once cool and calculating, were now wide with fear. The complete change in her continence from the controlled and much put upon professor to feral fear unsettled and startled them.
"Why did no one warn me that I was going to be stuck in the air?!" Miranda accused. She could feel the panic clawing at her control. Was SHIELD full of complete fools? "Get me off this ship! Get me off this ship right now!"
"Miranda," Captain America soothed, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I don't think you need to worry. Dr. Banner is not likely to cause any trouble, right?" He looked over at the unassuming doctor. Banner only fidgeted and looked away.
Agent Romanoff inwardly schooled herself to not immediately subdue the woman. All her training screamed at her that she was being threatened and needed to attack, but she knew she would only be kicking a hornets' nest. Dr. Prospero was terrified and there was no telling what the mutant would do when threatened.
"She is not afraid of the Hulk," Agent Romanoff explained as calmly as possible, while Miranda shrugged off the captain's hand and backed away. Not once did the agent remove her eyes from the volatile woman. "She fears the lack of water. But mostly, I believe she fears the lack of nonhuman water."
"Nonhuman?" Dr. Banner asked, looking to Miranda with a touch of apprehension.
The mutant took several calming breaths, the tempo of her fist clenching slowing. Internally, she reminded herself that she was not a frightened little girl anymore. She had been trained by the best to control and harness her powers. It was the lack of sleep and that she was on a SHIELD base, she reasoned, that put her on edge. There was no way she would let herself lose control over a something as trivial as being afraid… again.
With her fear contained as best she could, she gave the others a wan smile. "Complete power over H2O," she reminded. "I can draw water from anything; bodies of water, ice, condensation, clouds, plants, animals… people. If I wanted to, I could turn any living being near me into a dried out husk. When there are fewer sources for me to use, if I am some place dry, it gets harder for me to control where I get my water from. And" she added sardonically, "it is a very dry place between the clouds." Looking away, arms crossed, "I never should have come here."
The two men gazed at Dr. Prospero with equal parts amazement and trepidation. She appeared to have calmed down, but they now knew how truly dangerous she could be. No one spoke.
Captain Rogers was the first to break the silence, "Then why did you?"
Miranda gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?"
He glared accusingly at her, "Why did you come? Why did you come if you were too weak to be anything but a danger to us?"
Captain America's words hit Miranda like a blow to the face. Too weak? Too weak!? They echoed through her, stoking a fire of righteous fury. With the palm of her hand she pushed at the broad expanse of Rogers' chest. She pushed with every ounce of frustration she held. She pushed with all her fear, all her rage, all her indignation and all her regret. She pushed him so hard that he was forced to take a step back. And she continued to push.
"I am here," she pushed, "because I have to. I am here," Captain Rogers took another step back, "because my knowledge and skills are needed. I am here," she pushed him into the cold, hard steel of the wall as she yelled, "because I am the super human genius that will stand between mankind and its destruction!"
Much to her surprise, Steve grinned. "Exactly," he said as he patted her on the shoulder and then turned to walk down the corridor.
"He tricked me," she realized, mouth agape. She watched as Agent Romanoff joined the man known as Captain America. He really was the real deal; a true hero. How else could he have made her comprehend her own motives? Sighing, she shook her head as she began catch up with the two, "I guess I am stuck."
"Well," Bruce said, following after the retreating figures, "that was an interesting start."
The bridge of the Helicarrier was a flurry of activity as the small group of super heroes entered. Miranda was astonished by how smooth the ride was compared to the exterior of the ship. If it weren't for the large set of windows on the bridge to tell her otherwise, she would have assumed they weren't moving at all. All around, agents clustered in front of flickering view screens. Now and then, one would confirm a read out as a tall, angular Agent Hill walked along the rows of computers. In the middle of all the action stood Director Fury; the heart of the storm.
"Gentlemen. Ladies," Nick Fury greeted as the group was directed to a large table at the back of the bridge. Miranda resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the giant eagle etched into its steel surface. Apparently, SHIELD really loved that thing, because they seemed to think that every surface needed it.
"Dr. Prospero," Fury said as he offered her his hand, "I am glad we were able to convince you to come back."
Miranda stared at his proffered hand. It had been years since she last saw the Director of SHIELD and the sight of him still managed to fill her with rage. In the few months she had worked with him, he had kept vital information from her, confiscated all her research and then kicked her out because she was a mutant. To say she did not much care for the man was an understatement.
"I'm here, Fury, because you managed to lose one of the most dangerous pieces of technology I have ever seen and I am probably your best chance at finding it. Don't think I will be sticking around a moment longer once you get it back."
"I don't think that will be a problem," Fury said, pulling back from her and redirecting his attention towards Bruce, offering his hand:
"Doctor, thank you for coming."
Banner eyed Miranda curiously as he took the director's hand with apprehension. "Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh... how long am I staying?" he asked warily.
"Same deal as the good doctor over there. Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."
Bruce raised an eyebrow. At least for the moment, Fury seemed genuine. Removing his jacket and rolling up his sleeves, he asked, "Where are you with that?"
Director Fury turned to Agent Coulson, who had been quietly standing in the background. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet: cell phones, laptops," Coulson listed off. "If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."
"That won't find them," Miranda said, leaning casually against the table. "Loki is too smart to get caught so easily. No. We are going to have to rely on the Tesseract to show us where they are."
"What makes you so sure?" Agent Hill asked. She crossed her arms and glared at Miranda.
Miranda glared back, "Because Loki is an evil genius, not an amateur. Did you even read the bio?"
"Dr. Prospero's right," Banner jumped in before the two women tore into each other. "We are going to have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"
Nick Fury, the director of the single most powerful and networked spy organization on Earth, simply asked, "How many are there?"
"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we can rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner and Prospero to their laboratory, please."
"Don't worry Doc," Agent Romanoff said as the trio left the bridge, "we had all your little gadgets set up there. And there are some new toys, too."