[Steve's P.O.V.]
Jacqueline's eyes widened as she stared at the full moon. I could feel my stomach twisting, and my heart sank. She had frozen, not moving from her spot, not even blinking.
"WHO THE HELL DID THIS!?" Stark roared, but it felt muted compared to the shock I was feeling. I hadn't felt this way in a long time, seeing someone I cared about in such a state.
"I believe it was-" Jarvis began, but I interrupted.
"Fury. Director Fury did this." I said, shock subsiding. Now I felt angry. Stark seemed angry too, and Pepper was scared. I doubted she understood what was going on, and why it was so serious.
"He wanted to know what I was capable of…" Jackie said, and we all jumped. I felt a wave of relief; maybe she still had her senses after all.
"I'll show him… I'll show him!" Her face twisted in anger, "He dares!"
"What did Fury do?" Pepper asked, her voice wavering in fear.
"MY MOON POOL!" Jackie screamed, causing every one of us to flinch. There was the sound of something bursting in the distance, and a loud hissing sound was heard.
"Sir, the pipes have over-pressurized. They've burst." Jarvis announced urgently. That explained the sound. Jacqueline had been right; she did gain incredible power from the full moon.
She stood up, energy almost radiating from her body. She stormed past me, and out of the room towards the stairwell. I grabbed at her arm, but her skin burned mine. She was almost boiling her own blood in her anger. I recoiled in alarm.
"She's burning up!" I exclaimed. Pepper and Tony both paled.
"What did she mean? What does Fury have to do with her Moon Pool?" Pepper asked, "What is a Moon Pool?"
"Jackie said it was sacred, or something," Tony said.
"It was the Moon Pool that turned her into a mermaid. It's a source of powerful magic during full moons, and she said that she is supposed to protect it. She made Fury promise not to go near it, but he must have lied." I answered, grim. I had no idea where to find the Moon Pool, but Jackie did. She would probably go by water, where only Stark could follow.
"She's probably going to swim there, Stark you're the only one capable of going after her. I know the Moon Pool is in a town called New Hope, Pennsylvania. Go there and look for signs of S.H.I.E.L.D. activity. That's where she'll go. If you leave now you can get there first, try to warn them." I ordered, taking command of the situation. Stark nodded, and ran off to get his suit. Pepper looked like she was going to cry.
"It's going to be alright," I told her, "We'll get her back, keep her getting hurt." And from hurting herself, I thought solemnly, but I dared not say it out loud. Her safety was out of my hands now as it was; it was up to Stark now.
[Tony's P.O.V.]
"Jarvis, set a course for New Hope, PA." I said, heading south. The GPS displayed in the mask, and I turned southwest. I didn't know where Jacqueline was, but I knew where she was going. That would be wherever Fury would be.
"Jarvis, phone the Director if you please." I told the AI, although it was more of a command than it was a request.
"Gladly." Jarvis replied in his usual tone. I smirked as the phone rang. I had a few choice words to give Fury when he picked up.
"Stark." Fury stated bluntly.
"Director," I responded, "You hacked my system." Fury laughed.
"What makes you think that I did it?" His light-hearted tone made me mad.
"Because you were the only one who knew about Jackie that would do such a thing. Be glad I'm warning you, you broke your promise to her and she's not happy." I was blunt, but kept my voice low. I didn't want him to know just how angry I was at him.
"I didn't break my promise," Fury snapped, "I sent someone else to investigate instead." I scoffed.
"That's just as bad. She's travelling with the intent to eliminate the threat to the Moon Pool. Whoever is there will be seriously hurt if you don't call them out right now."
"No."
"No!?" I was appalled, "You'd risk the lives of your agents just to see how powerful she is?"
"Yes. I want to see if her abilities can be used to our gain. If she can be controlled, than it is likely that others can too." The idea sickened me.
"She's not a weapon, Fury!" I shouted, drawing near my destination. I was angry enough at this point to let her wreak havoc on the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"That is not for you to decide, Stark." Fury said shortly, and hung up the phone. It served only to make me angrier. If he hadn't hung up on me, I would have hung up on him.
"Sir, we have arrived in New Hope. We should begin looking for S.H.I.E.L.D. activity, before Miss Thompson finds them herself." I said nothing, but began scanning for S.H.I.E.L.D. tech. It would likely be found in or near the Pool.
It wasn't that hard to find. There was a lot of tech, scanning for energy signatures. And a lot of activity. People swarmed around the area frantically. Something must have happened. I landed in a clear area, and grabbed the closest agent.
"You are all in danger and you need to get out now." I said loudly, speaking above the din. The man looked at me with wide eyes, and shook his head.
"Something's happening to the Pool! If we leave now we'll probably never know!" Damn these idiots! The man wrenched from my grip and scurried off. Suddenly, I heard a scream, followed by a splash. I took off in the direction of the sound. Jacqueline must have made it here.
I entered the Moon Pool, and was immediately blown away. It was a cave, a rough circle with a smooth floor of stone. The walls of the cave rose up to a cone shaped roof, with a hole in the center through which the edge of the moon was visible. A pit in the center was filled with clear water, but the strangest thing was that the water was glowing blue.
A young man, probably recently hired was sitting in the middle looking stunned. The water churned around him, almost as though it boiled with no heat. Bubbles of water lifted from the surface, shakily floating upwards, and rising towards the hold in the roof. Looking up, I saw that the moon was directly overhead, and slipping fast to the side. Turning back to the man in the water, I stared, too stunned to do anything to help.
"He does not appear to be in any immediate danger, sir," Jarvis said, breaking the silence. The moon's light faded from the cave, and the strange bubbles dropped back into the now still Moon Pool. The man dragged himself out of the water to lie down on the stone floor just as a shape entered the Pool through some underwater passage.
The water suddenly exploded upward, wind whipping around the cave and shaping the pillar into a waterspout. I grabbed the young scientist's arm, and dragged him from the Moon Pool as the wind became laced with the sound of Jacqueline screaming.
As I exited the cave with the man in tow, I looked up at the sky. The full moon stared back at me.
"It will not set for several hours," Jarvis informed me, "It would be wise to evacuate the premises until it has set." I agreed completely, and helped the scientists get out. Something made me hold the young man back, something that Jackie had mentioned. The full moon holds a lot of power over mermaids, and the Moon Pool is sacred. Whatever happened in there, when the kid fell in, it made me suspicious.
"You think that thing in there will be able to tell you what happened to me in there!?" He asked, bewildered.
"Like I said before," I groaned, "Her name is Jacqueline. She's a mermaid, and you guys where messing with her Moon Pool. It's in her nature to defend it, and the full moon somehow amplifies her powers. As soon as the moon goes down, she'll come to her senses. Jackie is the only one who will know what happened in there." He frowned. The cave had quieted, but I didn't want to risk angering her again by trespassing, at least not until the moon had gone down. Until then, there was nothing more we could do, other than to wait.
Surprise! A wild chapter appears! I was really excited by the prospect of the lunacy, and also introducing a new character, and I couldn't wait. Since I got my homework out of the way today, I now have a whole weekend free to write! Woo! I know it's shorter than the last chapter by a lot, but hey, big plot point! Augh, so exciting. I have no regrets other than to have relieved that cliffhanger so quickly, but I was UNCONTROLLABLY EXCITED. Also, I've made the decision to write my first essay as a college student about mermaids. And I watched a few of the new episodes of Mako Mermaids, which is a spinoff (more like an AU) of H2O. It's a lot of fun, and some of the powers Jacqueline uses are based on the new mermaids. I'm in a very mermaid-y mood lately.