After Laura and Bruce's presence was explained yet again to Logan, they were ushered outside for a game of mutant baseball. Laura and Bruce were both astonished at the array of powers displayed by the students. Betsy sat next to them on the bench and pointed out all the different mutations. Laura looked over at the Doctor and smiled. He was leaned forward in his seat, watching closely as a female student's arm stretched out of its own accord and snatched the ball from a boy's hand. Psylocke pointed.
"That's Cessily. She's made of organic material."
"Entirely?! How is that possible?"
"We're mutants, Dr. Banner. Anything is possible." Bruce looked like a little boy on Christmas.
"This is extraordinary."
"Hmm. If only the whole world felt that way." Laura looked over at Betsy.
"People fear what they can't understand. It's always the same." The woman with violet hair gave her a surprised look.
"You're right. I thought you weren't from Earth." The Asgardian lifted her shoulders and looked tense.
"It's not selective to humans. It's a fact of all people. My father, for instance. He hates your world. But why, I wonder. Well, because he doesn't understand your lives. He doesn't understand that you have wonders of your own. We on Asgard may have a rainbow bridge, but you have mutation, as you say. Everyone and everything is amazing. We just don't see it sometimes." Betsy stared at her for a moment.
"If your brother is half as smart as you, we're going to have to start a philosophy book." She shook her head and stood up. "I've got to talk to Emma about something. Have a scientific cow by yourselves." Bruce watched her walk off. Laura let out a small giggle.
"What?" Banner asked her, confused. She brushed her hair out of her face.
"You're so excited by science, Doctor. It is quite adorable." Bruce blushed a little.
"Well. Mutants are such an anomaly, but it's not something I would ever study."
"What do you mean?"
"They just…the world hasn't accepted the mutants as a part of them. They can't walk among ordinary people without being stared at. Asking them to donate DNA or anything of the sort would be wrong. Like they were a lab experiment. I…I know what it feels like. I'd never want to do that to anyone." Laura was watching him intently.
"You never told me how you came to be this human monster, Doctor."
"There was testing with gamma radiation. A gamma bomb, actually. The explosion went off, and there was a teenage boy in the blast zone. I ran outside and pushed him down into the trench. He was saved from the radiation. I wasn't. The radiation infected my DNA, and now whenever I get angry, I turn into the…the other guy."
"So an act of selfless, then."
"You could call it that, I guess." Laura's eyes narrowed, and she leaned closer to him.
"You-" She was interrupted when Logan put a hand on her shoulder. Laura looked up at him, her face slightly irritated. "Yes?" He looked a little anxious.
"Didn't you say SHIELD was after you?"
"Yes…?"
"You'd better get inside, then. They're almost here." Bruce's eyes rounded.
"What?"
"You heard me. Inside. Now. I hear their copters coming." Bruce stood up from the bench at once and grabbed Laura's wrist. Her face reddened slightly but she stumbled after him. They ran inside the mansion as the sound of helicopters echoed from the front lawn. Bruce and Laura reached Loki quickly. Laura helped him get up.
"SHIELD is coming, Loki. We have to leave before someone finds us-"
The door hit the ground.
On the front lawn, Psylocke frowned at one of the soldiers as Nick Fury marched into the mansion.
"What right do you have to be here?" No one answered her. She exchanged worried looks with Scott. She hoped, for their sakes, that the Doctor and Laura were already gone.
Laura backed up as Fury approached them.
"Looks like I found you."
Bruce glared at Fury.
"Director, if you'll just let us explain-"
"I let the Avengers happen, Banner. But this is not acceptable. Loki is not allowed here by any means. By being here, you're assisting in an act of terrorism." Laura almost snarled at him.
"None of this is their fault. I brought him here." Fury smirked.
"From imprisonment on Asgard?"
"From torture," she said, "that you inflicted upon him."
"Right. I suppose he didn't deserve it?" Two soldiers appeared beside Nick, and one of them lifted his gun. Laura sensed the dart flying through the air before Bruce even saw it. She let go of Loki and took hold of Banner's shoulders. The dart hit her in the back, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she slumped to the ground. Bruce watched in startled astonishment. Loki grimaced as he caught Laura with one arm. Fury's men closed in, and as they were about to shoot, a blue mist engulfed them and swept them away.