Lily sat with Bruce and Tony inside their lab.
"Now are you sure you are okay with us doing this?" Bruce asked, slightly worried for her. "Of course she is, if she wasn't then she wouldn't be here right now." Tony said quickly. He attached a few well-insulated wires on the sword, not touching it with his bare hands. He then followed the wires, grabbing the unused ends and began to tape them onto Lily's face. "Hopefully this will work. If so we will have a base for the gloves."
They had decided that if they were going to be able to keep the sword in the compound that they needed to create something, besides her, that could lift it. Tony's suit was the perfect candidate for adding a few extra features to it.
"What do you want me to do?" Lily asked. She felt like a lab rat, she was at the moment but she was having a lot of fun with it. "Umm…concentrate on it." Tony said. Bruce looked at Tony then at Lily, having a need to explain to her how it was supposed to work. "It should read your brainwaves and believe it is being held by you. If it thinks you are holding it then maybe we can too." Lily smirked. "So you are trying to trick it? Neato." Tony smiled at her then looked at the sword, pointing at it her to concentrate.
Lily stared at the sword, concentrating very hard on it. Telling her that she is holding the blade. Tony moved to grab the sword, hand completely bare. Bruce looked skeptically at him, not quite believing that it would work that quickly. Tony just barely touched the hilt before quickly pulling his hand away. "Y-ouch! Barely get a centimeter in touching distance and it's so far below freezing that it's like putting your hand under piping hot water." Bruce smirked at him, having known that would happen. "Maybe we should try a different approach." Tony rubbed his hands together, "Like what?" He looked at Lily. "Got anything in that book of yours?"
Lily shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't gotten very far in it yet. It's quite complicated for me. Things I've never seen done or heard of." Bruce looked at her skeptically. "Can Thor help you out at all?" Lily shook her head, "He doesn't know any magic…" She rolled her eyes, "Can't even create a small flame. It's quite funny how terrible he is at it."
"He's not very much help." Tony stated, slightly annoyed. He began to undo the wires on her face. "Can we do anything to help? Though I can't say I believe much in magic, we are both scientists here afterall." She smiled at him, thankful for the gesture. They could explain things scientifically and so would try to tear down every spell to see how it works, not much fun. "Thank you for offering but I'd rather try to do it on my own."
She hopped off the table. "So can I take my sword for the rest of the day?" Bruce took off the wires and looked at Tony. "I don't see why not. We have to go through more figuring before we can test it again." Tony nodded his head with a slight frown. "Yeah go ahead."
Lily grabbed the sword, her body instantly turning blue from the hands up. It was as light as a feather now and the memory of it flooded into her and she saw her mother briefly again before the image disappeared. "Whenever I lift the sword, unlike before when I couldn't, an image of who I assume is my mother floods my vision. Then I believe that her knowledge of fighting with the sword passes onto me." Bruce and Tony shared an unreadable look between them. "So you're saying that you wouldn't know how to fight with a sword unless it were this one?" Tony asked out of curiosity. "Yeah. I've never fought with a sword before I lifted this one."
Tony huffed, mumbling something under his breath as he walked off. She had come to like Tony's weird antics, enjoying whenever he'd go against Fury for something he believed was the right thing. "Tell me if you find anything in that book of yours." Tony said before turning to focus on some figures. Then there was Bruce who purposely became the quiet guy that no one notices just to keep his rage in check. Yeah Lily had been told about his Hulk side, she had wanted to see it but did nothing to provoke him, unlike Tony. Even though they both worked well together and seemed friendly, Tony had moments where he pushed Bruce to his limits.
They both began to work at their stations, both not liking that they had to work with magic.
Lily walked out of the room not having anything else to say to the two of them. In the halls S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stared her at, not quite sure what to make of her. "Ah, Miss Williams. Just the lady I was coming to find." Steve said behind her. He put his arm around her shoulders and turned her around, going toward Controls instead of the training room. "Director Fury needs you at Controls." Lily frowned, "Why does he need me?" She hadn't talked to him in two days since he helped her up after returning from Asgard. "I don't actually know." He looked around as he thought about it. "Probably wants you to file a report on your trip to Asgard." Lily looked at him, raising her eyebrow. "But Clint did that for me yesterday." Steve was a bad liar, even worse when it came to trying to hide the truth from people. "It's Loki isn't it?" She asked with a grumble of disapproval.
He teetered his head side to side. "Um… Yeah it is."
They stopped off at her room on the way so she could put her sword away. The one thing she had been allowed to do was go back to her apartment, pack up, and bring only the most important of her belongings here. The rest would be sold with the apartment. She had yet to see her family, though she called them every night since she got back from Asgard. Lily sheathed her sword and placed it at the corner of her bed. She then pocketed a small dagger between her shin guard and leg, a protection she had procured from her apartment. "Why do you carry that?" Steve asked while he waited at the door. He watched her grab the little dagger, interested as to why she would carry such a thing when she had powers that could get her out of any situation. "Once the invasion was over my family and I had to dispatch a few lingering Chitauri that came to our apartment. It came in quite handily since I couldn't lift my sword, nor use my magic."
She flicked the lights off and they left the room. "It's become one of those things you go nowhere without." Steve looked at her, his hand instantly going to his pocket. He pulled out a small pocket watch, one that hadn't worked for decades. "I know what you mean." A picture of a pretty woman was stuck to the inside. "This is the time I…went to sleep and the first woman I ever loved." Lily smiled at him, at his compassion and sympathy.
They entered Controls, the main deck of the ship. "I'm sure there will be another woman you will love." She whispered, knowing they had come to Controls. Steve smirked at her. They stopped at the meeting table, taking a seat. Fury was bent over, his posture screaming anger. He looked up at them when they had sat down; he tried to just look at them but ended up glaring at them. "Director." Steve said in a formal hello, his captain side coming to the front.
"Mr. Rodgers, Miss Williams. How good do you two feel as working together?" They eyed each other, "Well she is a little over bearing at times, maybe a bit moody." Steve joked. Lily glared playfully at him, "And he is a bit to much of a soldier at times, speaks with his emotions-a lot." Fury smirked. "So you work well together? Good." They had never actually worked together per se, just talked, a lot. Steve and Clint had become her best friends on the base. Thor was close to her, but she saw him as too much of a monkey and not an overly serious guy. Natasha was…distant to say the least. Tony and Bruce only worked with her if they needed scientific assistance, not to say they didn't like her, they were just too busy at the moment to get to know her.
"I want you two to play nice with the God down in lock up." Fury said, slightly ordering them. "But sir," Steve started. "Well you would be more of a back up for Lily than anything." Fury said, cutting him off. "Loki has not done well with cooperating with us or Thor. He has finally said that he would talk with you, Lily." Lily looked down at the table, the memory of falling on her face the first time she came here playing through her mind. "I don't want to talk to him…" She hated the thought of talking to him now more than ever. She had learned some more about her lineage from Thor, she didn't need any information from Loki. He would no doubt lie to her.
"I'm sorry Lily but this is not an optional deal. We need to know how he escaped from Asgard and why he came back here." Fury said. "Honestly, I need you to befriend him." He sighed. Lily stood up instantly, glaring at Fury. "No way am I befriending that monster!" There was a time when she had wanted to but now…now was not that time. "He tried to trick me onto his side. He was going to use me for his own gains. I am not going to play right into his hand." Steve looked at her, surprised but he completely agreed with her. "She can't do that. She'd only get deeper into his business, not a place anyone wants to go." Fury sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The whole thing is ludicrous but we need information and right now you seem to be the only one who might be able to get it Miss Williams."
Lily sat back down, staring at the table intently. Even though she did not want to be used by him, she didn't want to use him. That was wrong in her mind, she liked to treat people how she liked to be treated, one of those grand sayings they ingrain in your head through high school. Guess it was ingrained into her head. If she were to do this she would no doubt honestly befriend Loki, the man who tried to convince her he was her father. And when she had thought back on it she realized how not much older he looked then her, making her feel utterly dumb about it.
Loki was rude, mean, and cunning; everything she didn't like in a person.
"What is Steve's job in this?" She said, looking back up at Fury. Steve grabbed her arm, "You aren't seriously considering this, are you?" He looked at Fury. "You aren't going to let her do this are you?" Fury pursed his lips, giving Steve a serious look, "Right now, I am."
Turns out Steve's only job was to play guard dog. He and Thor were the strongest two men on the base, but Thor and Loki did not have the greatest of relationships… So they went with Steve. "We could just walk away now you know." Steve said, worry lining his voice. "You don't have to do this." Lily gave him a sad smile, "Even though you guys trust me now, I am still proving myself to S.H.I.E.L.D. as to whether or not I am capable of handling myself in situations such as this. No matter how much I don't like it…I'm not exactly in a position to disobey." Whenever Lily talked about things like this she always got a soldier's loyalty to her words. She thought things through deeply, knowing what the right way was to go about things. A trait she had in common with Steve. He eyed her, knowing he would be unable to argue a point through that.
Finally he said, "I'll watch your back."
Lily nodded, giving him a grateful smile.
They entered the room quietly, Steve relieving the guards on duty. Lily took a deep breath and stood tall, walking over to the glass cell.
"You can go ahead and let that air of courage out Lily. I know that you are not fond of me and that you would rather be doing something else." Loki said. He moved into a sitting position on the cot. "I do not want you acting like someone you are not." Odin's words to her instantly repeated in her head, 'stay true to yourself', but how would he have known what Odin had said? Lily let the air out. She looked away, unnerved by his stare and slumped slightly as she shifted her weight to her right foot. Loki smiled at her, a playfulness behind his stare. "That's better."
Enter Loki!
XD