I wish to thank Theta-McBride for reviewing. I'm glad you find the story amazing. (:
~R~
Rory's training session helped her simmer down. The adrenaline coursing through her body helped keep her on her toes. The targets increased in number as the levels went higher and they were able to use any of the weapons on the ground. They were also programmed to use karate, taekwondo and any other form of fighting. Rory sat in a nearby tree waiting. She peered out from between the leaves as targets moved below her. At the start of the level she was able to take down more than half of the targets, but towards the middle of the level she got ambushed.
"Damn you Fury and your too good programing." She grumbled from her perch.
A few minutes later static came over her headset, almost making her fall from the tree. She pressed a hand to the headset and looked in the direction of the control booth. Rory pulled the hidden knife from her boot and jumped down onto the targets shoulders below her. She flipped the knife in her hand before sending it through the last targets forehead.
"I hope I'm not interrupting." Steve's voice came over the headset.
"Nope I was just finishing up." She replied as the room returned to normal. She removed the glasses and set them on the stand.
"Apparently you and Stark don't get along very well."
"You saw that?"
"Everyone did. Mind telling me what that was about?"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later unless Tony beats me to it…" she muttered softly. "If you'll excuse me Captain I have to go change." Rory tossed the headset next to the glasses and disappeared into the locker room.
After a quick shower Rory pulled on the dark blue skinny jeans and army green racerback tank top from earlier. She slipped into her boots and set out to explore. The helicarrier was a maze of long hallways and no matter where Rory turned she ended right back where she was before. She groaned and leaned her back against the wall as she tried to remember from which direction she came. She pushed away from the wall and headed down the hallway in front of her.
Rory ended up a few floors down with storage rooms. She looked around at the empty hallway. A few SHIELD agents passed by but they paid her no mind. She continued down the hall until she reached a door labeled Secure Storage. Curiosity got the best of her and she peeked through the window. A familiar red, white, blue and blond figure caught her attention up on a higher level. Rory left Steve to his search and went back upstairs to Bruce and Tony's lab. She remembered passing by it a few times and received weird looks from Tony.
The lab appeared on her left when she reached the R&D floor. She walked up to the door and let herself in. The scientist and billionaire looked up upon her entrance.
"You don't mind if I hang out in here do you?" she asked.
"And here I thought you'd avoid me like the plague." Tony commented touching something on the screen.
Rory's eyes narrowed at the tone of Tony's voice; it was condescending. She didn't care for snobby people and Tony was at the top of that list. She respected the man now that he no longer manufactured weapons and for his second persona, Iron Man.
"I'll just be over here if you need me." She said walking over to a table off to the side.
~R~
The time seemed to go by like a snail. Rory watched as the two men messed with the computers and talked amongst each other. She messed with her phone while she tried not to listen to their conversation. She was saved from her eavesdropping when her phone started ringing. The men stopped what they were doing and looked over at her. She mouthed a quick sorry and answered the call.
"Hey dad." She looked over and saw Tony grinning like an idiot.
"I just wanted to check up on you kiddo."
"Is everything alright?" she asked, her father's tone of voice scaring her.
"Everything's fine. It's just been a long day. Sweetie, I have to go. We'll talk later."
Rory pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at the blank screen. Something was up with her father and she couldn't do much to help. She pocketed the phone and looked up when a shadow fell over her.
"Family trouble?" he asked pulling a screen towards him.
"It's nothing to concern yourself with, Tony." She quietly answered.
Tony glanced at her through the screen before turning it around. "Did Fury tell you anything about what was going on?"
"Besides Loki stealing the Tesseract? No. Fury told me nothing. Why?"
"What if I told you I hacked into SHIELD's database?"
"I say you have got to be kidding me. Find anything interesting?"
"Not yet, but JARVIS is working on it. You know this is the most civil conversation we've ever had."
"Surprisingly you're correct. Incoming." She said seeing Fury striding down the hall with an angry look on his face.
Tony walked back over to the lab table by the window and sat down on top. He threw away the empty bag of blueberries and inspected the screen as Fury entered.
"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"
"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony replied. Rory looked between the two confused. Obviously Fury found out about Tony's little bug but was it that bad to get so worked up over?
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."
"We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within a half a mile." Banner answered.
"Yeah, then you get your Cube back. No muss, no fuss. What is "Phase 2"?" Tony asked looking at the screen in front of him.
Fury turned toward Rory with the same angry look. "Are you a part of this too, Major"
"I don't know what you're talking about." She defended herself.
Rory jumped when a weapon harshly landed on the table. She looked up and found an angry Steve.
"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the Cube to make weapons. Sorry computer was moving a little slow for me."
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're making…"
"I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?" Tony asked turning the screen around. Rory stood up and walked over staring at the screen. Her brows furrowed as she turned toward Fury.
"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve bit back.
"I better not have been called here due to that." She said pointing at the screen. Fury's eyes narrowed.
"I thought you of all people would understand, Major."
"Stop calling me that! You say it as though I work under you, well I don't. Now what the hell am I actually doing here?" she shouted as her temper rose.
"You should watch your mouth, Hayes. It will get you into a lot of trouble."
Before Rory could say anything in response Natasha and Thor entered the lab and Banner spoke up.
"Did you know about this?" he asked Natasha.
"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"
"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."
"Loki is manipulating you."
"He's not even in the room." Rory said earning a glare in return.
"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Banner asked moving from behind the table.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
"Isn't it SHIELD's job to make sure weapons of mass destruction aren't built?" Rory said crossing her arms.
"Because of him." Fury pointed at Thor. Rory followed his finger and raised an eyebrow at the god.
"Me?"
"Last year, 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."
"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, that can't be controlled."
"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve said.
"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." Thor replied.
"A higher form?" Steve asked looking at them. Rory leaned against the table beside Steve as the conversation continued.
"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something."
"A nuclear deterrent. Because that always calms everything right down." Tony added.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Tony. Nuclear war isn't the answer even if it's to be used against some of realm or what not." Rory backed up Tony. Tony gave her a look before turning back to Fury.
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark. And aren't you the one who used them?" Fury asked looking at her and Tony.
"I didn't use nuclear weapons and I never will. I'd rather resign than use those." Rory spat.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep…" Steve interrupted.
"Wait, wait, hold on. How is this now about me?"
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"
"Steve…" Rory said cautiously. The look Steve shot her made her heart melt. The pain in them was unmistakable. She shut her mouth before she said something she'd later regret.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor commented.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury rounded on him.
"You treat your companions with such mistrust."
Rory rolled her eyes. This was getting them nowhere. She pushed away from the table as the room erupted into shouting matches. She positioned herself between Steve and Tony but it did little to help when Natasha spoke up.
"Are you boys really that naïve? SHEILD monitors potential threats."
"Captain America's on threat watch?" Banner incredulously asked.
"We all are. Even her." Natasha said pointing at Rory.
"I'm a potential threat? How is that possible?" She growled. Fury turned on her.
"It's because of your family's secret. That's right, I know about that and so will everyone else if something were to happen. I'm not taking any chances."
"You Sonofabitch. My family's secret is to help people! Not turn against them and cause a war!" Rory shouted her anger reaching its limits.
"Wait, you're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?" she heard Tony ask Steve.
"Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack…"
"Threat! Verbal threat. I feel threatened." Tony exclaimed.
"Show some respect."
"Respect what?" Tony challenged.
"Tony!"
"Why are you defending this old man? You only got to the position you're at because of your father."
"That's not true, Tony."
"Oh really? Daddy dearest is a Colonel is he not? All he had to do was have the general accept his offer to make you a Major. You didn't do anything to earn that title. Personally I don't think you ever fought in a war."
"Leave her alone, Stark." Steve said stepping in front of her.
"What? Are you protecting her now? She's gotta be the most useless person on this carrier."
"You really are an ass, Tony. No wonder you don't have very many friends…" Rory venomously spat. She removed herself from the center of the chaos and faced a wall. She closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled to calm herself down. If she didn't calm down soon all hell would break loose and there was no stopping it. The arguing grew louder and it wasn't helping her situation any and after Tony's outburst it made it much harder.
"Shut up." She said softly.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos."
"That's his M.O, isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."
"You need to step away." Fury said.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off some steam?" Tony asked clapping Steve on the shoulder.
"You know damn well why. Back off!"
"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."
"I know guy 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 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."
"Shut up…" Rory said again but no one listened.
"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds."
Thor laughs, "You people are so petty and tiny."
"Shut up!" Rory shouted. The room fell silent as they turned to face her. Her eyes were narrowed and her fists were clenched tightly causing her nails to dig into her skin and bleed. However the silence didn't last long.
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Banner back to his…" Fury began to say.
"Where? You rented my room."
"The cell was just in case…"
"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't. I know, I tried. 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 out everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"
Rory's eyes returned to normal as she looked over at Banner. She saw him reach for the spear and slowly reached for the gun strapped to her thigh. She pulled it from the holster and cocked it causing everyone to turn and look at her.
"Dr. Banner, put down the scepter." Steve said slowly turning away from Rory. He kept a close eye on her just in case. The computer started beeping and Banner set the scepter down. Rory lowered her gun as he walked over to the computer to check it out. A hand was placed on her shoulder as Steve looked down at her.
"Are you alright?" he quietly asked.
"I'm fine…I just don't like shouting." She replied.
"Sorry."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for. Stuff like this happens all the time. I guess I should be used to it by now. Just so you know I worked my butt off to earn the title I have. I'm not one to let someone else make all the decisions for me. My father is a good man and he would never do anything to help me succeed, unless I asked for it. I'm a Major due to my hard work and dedication to saving people's lives."
~O~
And so it has been revealed why Tony and Rory don't get along, if you missed it then I suggest going back through and finding it. Then if you are still stuck let me know! Oh and do you know how tedious it is to type all of those quotes while watching the movie? I had to keep pausing the movie so I got them right! Geez! Anywho I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow!