HELLO EVERYBODYYYYYY. I know I disappeared for a ridiculously long time and I am terribly sorry but I had the biggest exam of my life and spent all my free time in the last few months studying.
Also, I watched Infinity War last night and I could not hold off writing anymore. It changed so much of what I was planning for Joei's future and I can't wait to keep this story going. Without further ado, here is Chapter 4.
March 4, 2012
Joei stood in the rafters above the containment unit originally built for the Hulk as Loki tried to intimidate Fury and the rest of the team. From her place, she knew there was no way anyone could see her, not even through the cameras.
When Fury left the containment chamber, Josephine turned around and left as well, meeting with the director a few feet down the hall.
"Agent Stark, I need you and Dr. Garner to figure out how Loki's brainwashing works. We need Selvig and Barton back on our side. I have a feeling our prisoner isn't done showing off his parlor tricks."
"Yes, sir. I'll get in contact with Professor Garner and we'll get to work right away. What about my team?"
"Coulson and Romanoff can deal with them for a few hours."
"Yes, sir."
Josephine sighed in relief as the director took a left turn and she turned back toward the direction of her room. The Avengers could figure out their plan on their own for now. It was late, and the sun would be coming up soon, but there was no time to sleep.
A knock on the door of her bunk startled Josephine hours later. She had spent the last few hours working back and forth with Dr. Garner, trying to figure out how the brainwashing from Loki's scepter worked and what the safest way to get Barton and the others out of it was. She had almost fallen asleep with her head propped against her fist. She stretched her arms above her head and leaned over to pull the door open.
"What's this?" she said to the folder Coulson handed her wordlessly.
"Notes on your first team meeting." said Coulson, "You know I'm not entirely sure but I think that to lead a team you're actually supposed to talk to them."
"I know, I know," she waved a hand as she leaned back in the swivel chair and red through the notes, "But Fury gave me some extra work to do and it's not like they weren't going to figure out Loki's plan on their own."
"Is that it? Or are you trying to avoid the confrontation that has been coming for the past three years?"
"Yeah, that, too." mumbled Joei.
"You have to do it, Josephine. Besides, I'm sure Tony is a pretty forgiving guy. He's got a bigger heart than most people think."
"I'm sure he'd be flattered that you think so," Joei smiled, "How about I read this and once I actually understand what is going on I will jump down to the lab and see what Banner is working on? I should report to Fury soon, too. Professor Garner and I might have figured out how to fix Barton and the others."
"Good plan," said Coulson, patting her on the shoulder, "I'll see you later."
An hour later Joei had smoothed down her hair for the fourth time and had finally run out of excuses. She would start by looking for Steve, she decided, and leave the lab for last. Knowing her dad, that was exactly where he would be.
She found Steve walking down the hallway.
"Hey," she caught up to him and put a hand on his arm, "I hear you've met my dad."
"Yeah," Steve nodded, "He's...um..."
"You hate him."
"That's ridiculous, I hardly know him."
"That's not a denial, Captain," said Joei, bumping her shoulder with his.
A familiar sigh of disappointment reached Joei's ears and she looked up at Steve as he picked up the pace of his walk.
"What?"
"Why am I suddenly Captain now? What happened to Steve?"
"You're the one who said we should act like nothing ever happened. That includes us reaching a level of familiarity strong enough to use first names."
"So what am I supposed to call you, then? Agent 96?"
"If you wish to." said Joei, trying to hide the sting of the way he said her codename.
"I don't wish."
"Then what do want from me, Rogers?" she threw up her hands and walked even faster. He caught up easily with his longer strides. Her walking was messy and her arms flailed at her sides, but his strength and height allowed him to walk like a soldier. It probably didn't help that she was suddenly very, very angry at him.
"It would be nice if for starters I didn't have both members of the Stark family looking at me like I'm a disease."
"Excuse me, you're the one who looked at me, and I quote 'Like I killed his cat' the second I walked onto this damn boat."
"HEY!"
Joei's eyes went wide with rage and her nostrils flared when Steve yelled, but then her expression turned to one of dread when she realized it wasn't her whom he was yelling at.
Steve had been leading her to the labs the entire time, and she'd been so angry she hadn't even realized that they had stopped right outside Banner's lab. She didn't know what had made Steve yell at Banner or her Dad (probably her dad), but she immediately dropped her head and spun on her heal in an attempt to walk away from the door.
"Josephine Margaret Stark you get back inside this lab immediately."
She gulped at the sound of her dad's voice, which to the outside observer was completely casual. With shaky hands she stepped through the door, careful not to look at her father.
"Are you nuts?" Steve directed the question at Tony.
"Jury's out," Tony said quickly before turning to Banner, "You really have got a lid on that, don't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"
Banner smiled and it was perhaps the most relaxed facial expression Joei had seen on the man ever.
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are. You know what's not funny though? This," said Tony, motioning between Steve and Joei with the stick in his hand, "Why are you walking down the halls of Danger Inc. with my daughter, Captain?"
"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny," said Steve.
"Hey, that's rude," said Joei, noticing that Banner's face had taken on that same tight smile again.
"It's okay, I wouldn't have come on board if I couldn't handle pointy things." said Banner.
"You know who shouldn't have come on board?" said Tony, pointing at Joei and her attire, "You. You need to go take that off."
"I can't take it off."
"Reason?"
"I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D agent."
"No you're not."'
"Yes I am. I've been a part of this for three years."
"I'm sorry, three years?" Tony crossed his arms, "As in Fury allowed a minor to join a secret spy organization without consent of a parent of guardian?"
Joei groaned, "Well, actually...he did get consent just...not...from you."
"Not from...then who?" realizations dawned on Tony's face and he looked positively enraged, "Your aunt and I are going to have a very serious conversation when this is over. In the mean time, I'm getting you a jet back to New York. You can't stay here."
"No.
"Excuse me?"
"I said no." said Joei, "This is my job and you are not the boss of me here. Actually, here, I'm the boss of you."
"Excuse me?" Tony repeated, sounding thoroughly offended.
"She's the leader on this mission and the Avengers' Handler." Steve offered.
"I'm not an Avenger," Tony pointed out, "And you need to stay out of family arguments, Captain."
"And you need to focus on the problem at hand, Mr. Stark." said Steve sternly.
"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before?"
"None of us were ready." said Joei, "Banner was missing. You were recuperating. Steve was assimilating to this century and I wasn't done with my training."
"I'm pretty sure you knew where Banner was this whole time, I've been healthy for months, Fury isn't big on pop culture either, and you couldn't even hide from me which makes me think that your training is far from finished, young lady. And so it will remain even if I have to drag you off this ship and lock you at the top of Stark Tower for the rest of your life."
Joei rolled her eyes.
"Don't you dare give me attitude right now. And don't try to act like you know everything there is to know about S.H.I.E.L.D. Why did Fury call us in now? What isn't he telling us? And why bring you in as Handler to a group of people with special powers and a fancy suit when you have neither of those things? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation without all the variables."
Steve's face remained tense, but Joei could tell that these questions had planted a seed of doubt. She ignored the pang in her chest at the question about her eligibility to run this team.
"You think Fury's hiding something?"
"He's a spy."
"He's the spy," Joei added.
"His secrets have secrets." said Tony, tossing a handful of what looked like berries into his mouth, "It's bugging him, too isn't it?"
Banner looked like he really did not want to participate in this conversation, "Ah, I just want to finish my work here and..."
"Doctor?" said Steve.
Banner shook his head and removed his glasses, "A warm light for all mankind. Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."
"What about it?"
"I think that was meant for you," said Banner, pointing at Tony, "Well, both of you, I guess."
Tony silently offered Banner a berry and Joei had to smile.
"Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the Tower it was still all over the news."
"The Stark Tower? That big ugly-"
"Finish that sentence, Steve," Joei said with as much malice as she could manage, "My mom designed that Tower."
"And it's powered by an arc reactor, a self sustaining energy source."
"I'm aware of that," said Joei, "I think most of us in this room are. What's your point?"
"Our name is the only big name in clean energy right now," said Tony, "That's what he's getting at."
"So why not bring them in on their work with the Tesseract? What are they even doing in the energy business in the first place? Unless you were a part of it, Miss Stark, it doesn't make sense to me."
Joei shook her head, "I visited the site once but Fury insisted that they weren't planning on using it for anything yet, not until they understood it further. Clearly they must have been doing something other than observation if Loki was able to find it and open a portal."
"We should be able to figure that all out once my encryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D's secured files."
Steve's face turned back into the face of disappointed anger. Joei groaned and put a hand to her face.
"Just once can you go into someone's house without breaking into their computers?"
"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge," said Tony, approaching Steve. "In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?"
"Yet you're confused about why they don't want you around."
"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."
"I think Loki's trying to wind us up." said Steve, "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."
"Following is not really my style."
"And you're all about style, aren't you, Stark?"
"I'm sorry, of the people in this room, which one is A. Wearing a spangly outfit and B. Not of use?"
"Okay, that is enough." said Joei, standing between the two men, "I'm starting to see why Fury put me on this team. You're all a bunch of ego-ridden maniacs. Dad, you need to focus on finding the cube and we can worry about S.H.I.E.L.D's dirty laundry after we have saved the world from destruction and subjugation. Steve, you can't tell me that none of the points they make aren't good. Something is going on and Dad and Dr. Banner are right in thinking that we should know about it. I'm more than willing to save the world, but if I have to go to war I at least want to know why I'm fighting in it. As a soldier, I'm sure you understand that."
Steve looked between the three of them, jaw clenching, "Just find the cube."
Joei relaxed against the edge of the table, both hands running through her hair. Tony came to stand in front of her.
"I hope you know that there will be no fighting of any kind on your part."
"Too late. I've trained and I've studied and I've worked hard for this. Syracuse was a cover up for S.H.I.E.L.D's private Academy and I'm studying psychology at Culver so that I can get better at the whole understanding people thing. You can't stop me from doing this."
"I can and I will." said Tony feverently.
"How, Dad? How? Are you going to try to lock me in the tower because you seem to have forgotten that I know how to reprogram all of your AIs and most of your tech. And I know how to escape from just about every kind of building on the planet.
"Or were you planning on cutting me off so I can't go to school anymore? Because S.H.I.E.L.D can pay for that, and I'm sure they pay me and Caitlin enough combined to get an apartment together and go live somewhere else."
"Caitlin? Caitlin is in on this?"
From the corner of her eyes, Joei could tell that Dr. Banner was trying very hard to look busy.
"Caitlin is an agent, Dad. She was sent to watch my back and be my partner on a few missions. Right now she's in New York running clean up. Jimmy is in Willowdale on transportation watch. The twins are upstairs running facial recognition and my Superior Officer who has taught me how to fight and lie and shoot a weapon and keep my cool during an alien invasion is currently in the mental clutches of said alien and I will be damned if I walk away from this without getting him back to his friends and his job and his right mind.
"So you can argue all that you want with me, but I am not leaving this ship and I am not leaving this organization because if I can do my part to save all those people, you bet that I am going to do it even if I have to spend the rest of my life with you and Alex and even Steve mad at me."
Tony shook his head once more and spoke in a low voice that only infuriated Joei more, "You're not doing this."
"I am. Deal with it."
With that she turned on her heal and left the room, making her way back to the bridge.
Coulson was showing something to Thor at one of the computers. Romanoff was back to staring at the screens tracking Barton and Loki, and Josephine joined her.
"Hey."
"Hey back," said the redhead, "I take it you talked to your father?"
"Yep."
"How'd it go?"
"I basically told him he could disown me and I still wouldn't leave S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I bet he took that nicely," Natasha smirked. "He'll come around."
"Yeah. We're going to find Barton, Agent Romanoff."
"I know we will."
"Agent Stark, what have you got for me?" Fury asked, approaching the two of them.
"Dr. Garner and I have gone through as much information as we could. We predict that pulling Barton and the others out of their hypnosis won't put them in danger..."
"Hypnosis?" asked Natasha.
"That's the closest way to describe it. Brain washing requires hours upon hours of conditioning. It usually involves creating fear or other adverse feelings against a person or an image to convince them that said image or person is an enemy. Hypnotists, on the other hand, somehow put all conscious thought to sleep with a short and quick trigger that can be turned off just as quickly. We think that Barton is subconsciously present but can't control his actions."
"So he knows what he's doing he just can't stop doing it?" asked Natasha.
"Yes."
"And how do we turn it off."
"In theory, cerebral recalibration would work. Like hitting a reset button, except you're going to hit Barton. Really hard. In the head."
"And that will wake him back up?"
"We believe so."
"And if it doesn't work?"
"Then we tie him up and find another method to reset his brain. Our last alternative would be to stop brain activity and then restart it."
"You mean kill him and then hope you can revive him in time?"
"It's our last option." Josephine assured, "There are still other methods that have a chance of being successful."
"Let's it doesn't come down to a last resort. In the mean time, I have a job for you, Agent Romanoff. Stark, I'd like you to observe Romanoff on this assignment."
Josephine hid in the rafters once more as Agent Romanoff worked Loki's mind to find out his plan. She watched in admiration as Natasha made Loki believe he had the upper hand.
"Agent Stark," Fury's voice broke through her communications device as Loki began to threaten and taunt Natasha, "Report to the lab. I've got a virus sifting through my private server that you just might now something about."
Josephine fought the urge to curse under her breath, knowing that she could be found out if she made a sound. She tiptoed away and began the walk toward the lab. She was halfway there when Romanoff's voice echoed in her ear, too.
"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well."
"No offense to you, Agent Romanoff, but I don't think you and Thor will be the best at keeping Dr. Banner calm and human-sized."
"It's about time we sort out this mess," said Fury, "Rounding up your team in the lab doesn't sound like a bad idea, Stark."
"Yes, sir," Joei said, trying not to sound dejected as she put out another call, "Rogers?"
"On my way," was Steve's short reply.
Josephine entered the lab at the same time as Nick Fury.
"What do you think you're doing, Mr Stark?"
"I've kind of been wondering the same thing about you." answered Tony from his spot above one of the work tables.
"You're supposed to be locating the tesseract."
"We are," answered Banner, "The model's locked and we're searching for it now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."
"You're going to get your cube back," said Tony, "No muss, no fuss. What is Phase Two?"
A thump on one of the tables startled Josephine and she turned to find Steve slamming a complicated looking gun down on the table.
"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, but your computer was moving a little slow for me."
"And that is why I didn't say anything about the virus," said Josephine, turning toward Fury, "You said you weren't going to use the cube until you understood it. If you're going to put my team in the middle of a war I at least want to know why we're fighting it, Director."
"Stark, Rogers, we gathered everything that had to do with the Tesseract. This does not mean that..."
"I'm sorry, Nick," Tony called out, "What were you lying?"
Tony had turned the screen in their direction, which was taken up by images of schematics on new Tesseract powered weapons.
"I was wrong, Director," said Steve, as Romanoff and Thor walked in, "The world hasn't changed a bit."
"Did you know about this?" Banner directed the question at Natasha.
"You wanna think about removing yourself from the situation, Dr. Banner?"
Joei closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Romanoff was excellent at using other people's feelings against them, but why Fury thought she was equipped to deal with Dr. Banner and the Hulk was beyond her. From a psychologist's point of view, Romanoff was the least soothing person the doctor could possibly interact with.
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."
"We believe Loki is manipulating you."
"And you've been doing what, exactly?"
"You didn't come here because I batted my eyelashes at you," said Agent Romanoff, taking a few steps closer to Banner.
Banner was careful in his movements as he stepped to the side, approaching a screen while at the same time getting away form the subject of his irritation, "Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
"Yes, I think we're all wondering the same thing." said Josephine.
"Were you not at Roswell in February 2010, Agent 96?" Fury snapped, pointing at Thor, "It's because of him."
"Me?"
Joei ran a hand through her hair and leaned against a desk next to her father.
"The earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned."
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." assured Thor.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" asked Joei, thinking back to the day that Fury had announced S.H.I.E.L.D's new alien-defense angle. "But I thought S.H.I.E.L.D was about protecting people, not about who has the bigger stick."
"And you're not the only threat. The world is filling up with people who can't be matched. That can't be controlled."
"Like you controlled the cube?"
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."
"A higher form?"
"You forced our hand," said Fury. "We had to come up with-"
Joei caught Tony's eye and read the expression in them quickly enough. For years Tony had reaped the benefits of war. If anyone knew how wars got started, it was him. If anybody knew the blame that each side deserved, it was him.
"A nuclear deterrent." Tony interrupted. "Cause that always calms everything right down."
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark."
"Hey!" Josephine warned.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons Stark would be neck deep in..."
"Excuse you!"
"Wait, hold on, how is this about me?"
"I'm sorry isn't everything?"
"You want to think before you speak, Rogers?" Joei threatened.
"Oh, so now I'm the one who's being irrational?" Steve countered.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this," said Thor.
"I'm sorry, who landed in a crater and started blowing shit up? Oh yeah, you!"
"You treat your champions with such distrust," Thor said, directing his words toward Fury.
"Are you really that naive?" asked Romanoff, "S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats."
"Captain America is on threat watch?" Dr. Banner scoffed.
"You all are," Joei answered, "It's why the World Security Council thinks this won't work."
Tony said something at the same time that Josephine didn't quite catch, but Steve's answer was enough for her to catch the gist of it.
"Stark, if you make one more smart remark I swear..."
"Verbal threat! I feel threatened."
"Really, Dad, will you stop this?"
"I'm sorry, boss, I didn't think being part of your team meant having to keep my mouth shut. Then again that is how things seem to work around here, isn't it?"
"We have more important things to worry about than the damage it does to your ego when you don't know everything!" Joei instantly felt bad, but the words had slipped out so easily that it felt like they were coming from someone else.
"I'm sorry, weren't you just saying that you would like to at least know what we're fighting for?" Banner said.
"Yes, and now we know and while I'm not saying I approve, it is a step higher than having Loki bring an army of aliens to take over the planet, don't you think? Or would you rather have to turn into your giant alter-ego and rip them all in half by yourself?" calming words be damned. Why she had agreed to lead this team was beyond her.
"What? You think we can't help?" asked Tony.
"Not like this, you can't!"
"You speak of control and yet you create chaos," said Thor.
"That's his M.O. isn't it? I mean what are we? A team? We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos," said Banner, "We're a time bomb."
"You need to step away." said Fury.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"
"You know damn well why, now back off?"
"Oh, I'm starting to make you want to make me."
Joei rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She knew the relationship between her father and Captain America would be a complicated one, but she'd hoped they would at least try to play nice.
"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"
"Genius. Billionare, Playboy. Philanthropist."
"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."
"Captain," Joei warned, but a quick, almost imperceptible shake of Tony's head stopped her. She knew that the next words out of Steve's mouth would be wrong, but she also knew that part of her dad would believe them.
"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'd 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."
"That's enough," said Josephine, stepping between the two men. "You were both brought here for a reason but need I remind you that neither one of you passed the evaluation to qualify for this team which means I can send you home whenever I want. We are here to stop an alien invasion from happening, not so you can have a pissing contest. If either one of you has a problem with that, you can leave, and I'll put on your suit and do the job myself."
"That's not a bad idea, Stark," said Steve, still looking at Tony over Joei's head, "Why don't you put on the suit, we'll go a few rounds."
"Seriously, Steve?" said Joei, putting a hand on each man's chest.
Thor's laugh echoed through the lab, "You people are so petty. And tiny."
"Says the guy who knocked out a team of doctors because 'They dared touch the son of Odin'."
"Yeah, this is a team," said Dr. Banner in an irritated voice.
"Agent Romanoff, will you escort Dr. Banner..."
"Where? You rented my room remember?"
"I really don't think Romanoff-"
"The containment unit was just in case-"
"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't, I know, I've tried."
The room became extremely still and quiet.
"I got low. I didn't see a way out 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 three," he pointed at Josephine, Fury, and Romanoff, "Dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff, you want to know how I stay calm?"
"Dr. Banner," Joei said as firmly as she could manage with her voice still shaking in anger, "Put down the scepter."
The man looked down at his own hand in surprise. He clearly hadn't noticed himself grab it, nor had he noticed that Fury and Romanoff's hands had gone to grab their guns.
The computer made a ringing noise then, indicating that the cube had been found.
"We got it."
"Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all." said Banner, moving toward the other side of the room.
Romanoff made to follow him, but Josephine shook her head and held up a hand, "You're not helping him."
"I could get there faster."
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No one will be retrieving it but me."
"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP?!" Joei screamed at the top of her lungs, "None of you get to make that decision! Actually from now on none of you makes any decision unless I say you can! Dr. Banner!"
"Yes?" the Doctor answered in what was perhaps the calmest voice he had used during their entire "team meeting."
"Where is the cube?" Joei asked in a much quieter voice.
"It's...oh my god."
Josephine followed Dr. Banner's eyes. Above them, she could make out a small aircraft.
"What the-"
The floor shook and she was blasted back, her hands gripping at the shirts of the two men who were still on either side of her as they were thrown back.
"Put on the suit!" she yelled at her father, scrambling to get up. The two of them only made it harder by pulling her in different directions as they tried to help her, "Let go, dammit! Go get changed!"
Joei scrambled to get her comm device back into her ear, as it had come loose. Hill was yelling into her own comm.
"Somebody needs to get outside and patch that engine."
"Stark, you copy?"
"I'm on it."
"Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown. Romanoff?"
"We're okay."
"Agent Stark, track down Barton."
"Sir, if it comes down to facing him in a fight, I'll lose."
"Get a head start," said Romanoff, "I'll catch up."
"Got it."
Josephine gave the gun at her thigh a reassuring pat, hesitated slightly, and decided to hold it ready instead. She hoped she wouldn't have to use it.