Chapter Nine: Headache

Tony found my USB and plugged it into his computer while I explained everything I already knew. I told him all about how I originally broke into S.H.I.E.L.D, sneaking onto their base in New Mexico, and getting hired by Fury himself because he thought it would annoy Tony (and Patches lives to annoy Tony).

"What did you do before you teamed up with the soul-suckers?" he asked, not really looking at me but I knew he wouldn't bother asking if he didn't want to know.

"Oh, I made a modest living off of stealing things that didn't belong to me and selling them to other people who didn't have any business having them." He turned to look at me at that, with a look that said 'go on'. "I was a hacker. Codename Lockpick."

Tony stepped away from the computer and stared at me with wide eyes and a beaming smile. "You're Lockpick?!" I nodded, smirking, and he shook his head in disbelief. "I thought Lockpick was a dude! Everyone always assumed- I mean… Are you lying to me?"

I laughed at that. I knew Lockpick was pretty famous, but I didn't expect Tony to know who I was. "No, I just let everyone think I was a dude. It's easier to remain hidden when people don't even know what gender you are."

"I loved your work on Hammer Industries," he gushed. "Always hated the bastard. When he was taken down a peg by losing half of his work to a hacker I almost died I was laughing so hard."

I shrugged and sighed with a flair, tossing my hair over my shoulder. "Oh, please, do go on. It's not often I get praised for my stellar computer skills."

He chuckled and shook his head at that. I thought he really was going to go on, but the computer beeping pulled both of us away from our little… whatever it was. "What's Phase Two?" Tony asked, pushing away other files to read that one specifically.

"Back in New Mexico, Fury said something about wanting to make sure it went through. He seemed pretty desperate to keep it under wraps," I explained, stepping in front of Tony so I could see the screen to. He read over my shoulder as I enlarged the file, reading through it quickly.

The door opened, and a very angry Fury shouted, "What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" He moved his eye down slightly to see me in front of the screen with Tony. "Charlie."

"Patches," I smiled sweetly. I'm so fired.

"Kind of been wondering the same thing about you," Tony answered, moving away from the monitor to stand behind me and glare at Fury.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are," Bruce piped up. "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"And you'll get your cube back," Tony shrugged. "No muss, no fuss."

"What's Phase Two?" I tilted my head and leaned my hip against the table.

Fury glared furiously at me as the door opened behind him and Steve walked in, dropping a huge… gun… thing?... on the table by the door. "Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D uses the cube to make weapons."

"Rogers," Fury turned from me to speak to Steve, "we gathered everything related to the Tesseract." Tony's computer blipped again, and I looked it over before scoffing quietly. "That does not mean we-"

"Sorry, Patches," I cut him off and turned the screen so he could see it, even though he knew damn well what was on it. "Wrong answer. Try again."

"I was wrong, Director," Steve shook his head. "The world hasn't changed a bit."

Thor and Natasha came into the lab then, both looking pissed as they stood to the right of Fury. "Did you know about this?" Banner asked Natasha.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what, exactly?"

Natasha scoffed at that. "You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yeah, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you're a little twitchy."

"What I want to know," I cut in, taking a step away from Tony as all eyes turned to me, "is why the hell S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build fucking weapons? Because I didn't sign up for that."

Fury pointed to Thor. "Because of him!"

"Me?" Thor seemed stunned.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. You know all about this, Miss Merrick." I flinched at that. Shit. He finally figured out who I was. "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, they can't be controlled." He looked pointedly towards me and Tony, and I balled my hands into fists.

"People aren't meant to be controlled," I almost growled out. That was a sore spot for me. "The last time someone tried to control people, you threw him in a giant glass cage."

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it," Thor pulled Fury's attention away from me, "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?" Steven almost stepped back, probably remembering the war he'd been in and wondering what could be worse.

"You forced our hand," Fury spat. "We had to come up with something-"

"A nuclear deterrent?" Tony stepped forward to stand next to me. "'Cause that always calms everything down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be-" Steve started, but Tony stepped forward again to wave his hands, cutting him off.

"Wait, wait- hold on! How is this about me now?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"

"I thought humans were more evolved than this?" Thor crossed his arms, and looked almost disappointed at everybody bickering.

"Excuse me?" Fury copied Thor's pose. "Did we come to your planet and blow shit up?"

"Are you all really that naïve?" Natasha asked, looking around the room. "S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats."

"Then why the hell is she here?" Tony pointed towards me. "She's, like, two feet tall. And him-" he pointed to Steve. "He's on that list? Is he above or below angry bees?"

I stepped back towards Bruce, pissed. Pissed at Fury for keeping me here, pissed at being called a potential threat, pissed at Tony for questioning me being a threat, pissed that S.H.I.E.L.D wanted to control people… The list went on, and it was all giving me a pounding headache.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos!"

"Exactly!" I blurted, throwing my arms in the air. "S.H.I.E.L.D likes to pretend they know what the fuck they're doing, when really they're not any better than Loki!"

"HEY!" Thor and Fury shouted at me.

"It's their M.O, isn't it?" Bruce agreed from behind me before stepping around to the opposite side of the table from me. "What are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're- we're a time bomb."

"You two need to step away," Fury threatened, turning his whole body to face us.

Tony slung his arm around Steve. "Why shouldn't he let off a little steam?"

"You know damn well why!" Steve shoved Tony back. "Back off!"

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."

"Big man in a suit of armor, take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you."

My headache was getting worse with every comment, and their words started to muddle together. I pressed one fist to the side of my head, and gripped the table with my left hand.

Fight, something. Wire, something. Answer, something.

Hero, something. Suit, something. Rounds, something.

"You people are so petty," Thor laughed before turning to look specifically at me. "And tiny."

"Can you all shut up for two fucking seconds?" I wanted to scream, but it came out as more of a pained whimper, and I doubted anybody heard me.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Doctor Banner back to his-"

"Where? You rented out my room!"

"The cell was just in case-"

"In case you wanted to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" The room finally went silent, but I couldn't even appreciate it because of what Bruce had just admitted to. With every word he said, my head pounded more and more. "I got low," he explained, quieter. "I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the Other Guy spit it out."

"Bruce," I tried to shut him up, but he didn't hear me and I was leaning completely against the table now, clutching at anything that could stop this pounding in my head.

"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!"

I grabbed something that was cool to the touch, even cooler than the metal of the lab table, and I immediately clutched it closer with my eyes twisted shut to try and cool down my constantly heating migraine.

"Miss Merrick-" Fury started, and I snapped.

"Don't call me that!" I screamed, whipping to face him. The room was silent again, and it took me moment to realize what had happened. Natasha and Fury had their guns pointed at me, Steve and Tony held their hands up defensively in front of them, Thor tightened his grip on his hammer, and Bruce stepped away from me. I looked down to my left to see that the cold item I was clinging to was Loki's scepter.

"Charlie." This time Tony was talking, and I picked my head up to look at him. "Charlie, put the scepter back on the table. Okay?"

I wanted to argue, to say that it was the only thing keeping the headache from killing me. "I-I…"

"Trust me, Charlie." He took a hesitant step forward, hands still in front of himself and I could see the fear in his eyes. He was afraid. Of me. "I'll get you out of this, I promise. Put the scepter down."

I nodded slowly, and lifted my hand to return the scepter to where it had been before, but kept my hand wrapped around the handle. "If I let go the headache will come back," I whispered, and Fury seemed to lower his gun slightly at that, but I kept my eyes on Tony. He was going to get me out of this. He promised.

"I'll help you. Can I help you?" I nodded again, and he came up to me, placing his hand over mine on the scepter.

"Stark-" Natasha started, but he silenced her by holding the hand that wasn't on mine up in her direction.

"When I let go, you let go." Tony's fingers laced through mine, and I gripped his hand as tightly as I could. "Ready?" I nodded for the third time, and he slowly released the golden scepter.

I dropped the scepter, clinging to his hand, but as soon as the rod was no longer touching me the migraine was back full force. I collapsed, pulling away from Tony to clutch at my head as I curled into a ball on the floor. The computers started beeping, but Tony ignored them to kneel next to me and push the hair out of my face. "You're gonna be okay, Charlie." His voice sounded like it was coming through a tunnel.

"Did you locate the Tesseract?" Fury asked as Bruce stepped around me and Tony to silence the beeping.

"I can get it," Steve spoke up.

"No, the Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human-"

Tony turned to yell at the still bickering group. "Can you all shut up? We need a med team in here, somebody call them!"

I curled my knees tighter into my chest as the pounding seemed to shift, sounding almost like a voice. I couldn't make out what it was saying. "What do you want from me?" I pleaded, hoping that if I just did what it wanted it would stop torturing me. Natasha and Fury continued to watch me.

"Nobody wants anything from you," Tony tried to sooth me, but I pushed him away from me.

"Not you!" I shouted, pulling at my hair. "Dammit, just tell me what you want!"

"What does who want?" Fury asked, stepping closer to me. "Who's talking to you?"

"I don't know!" I cried, kicking the ground as hard as I could. Maybe if something else hurt, it would distract me from the pain in my head. "Somebody make it stop, please!"

'Out'. Out? What does it want out from, my head? 'Let me out'.

"From where?" I asked, trying to stand so I could let it out. "Where are you?"

Tony stood with me, and put his hands on my shoulders. "Charlie, you have to tell us who's talking to you."

'Away', the voice commanded, and I pushed Tony away from me to leave the room.

I didn't get the chance to leave, though. "Oh, my god!" Banner shouted, and the room exploded around me.