*GASP*
I'm kind of on a roll with the chapters this week, so here's a new update for you. I hope to have at least one more up before the weekend ends…but for now, enjoy Chapter Twenty-Five. Any constructive criticism is appreciated.
"Alright…he's down here somewhere…"
Steve had bolted quickly from the science laboratory…thankfully though, not quick enough for his scent to dissipate from the air.
The Howletts quickly were able to catch it and trail him deeper into the Helicarrier, into the storage units.
They soon found Steve struggling to open a sealed door – both he and the door were groaning with the effort.
"Well Case, look who it is," Ryder said, folding his arms across his chest, watching Steve practically leap away from the door as if it burned him. "Captain Hypocrite."
"Huh…see, I was going to say Captain Asshole, but Hypocrite fits better," Case added, mirroring his pose. "Breaking into a sealed containment unit is strictly against orders, Captain."
Steve frowned, "Look, about that I—"
Ryder cocked his head, "You what? Never followed orders a day in your life, whether it was from a doctor or from a commanding officer, both before the war and during our time with the Howlies, driving Case, Bucky, and me insane as we tried chasing after you?"
"Oh, and let's not forget how that whole thing started with the Howlies," Case pointed out. "Considering Phillips's grand plan for getting the troops back was to simply win the war, and you took it upon yourself to parachute behind enemy lines to rescue the rest of the Hundred and Seventh?"
Steve shifted on his feet, "You were there too…"
Case cocked an eyebrow, "I was following you."
"All right, fine! I'm sorry!" Steve hissed, "Is that what you want to hear?"
The twins just gave him a pointed look.
"And I'm being a hypocrite and an asshole…happy now?"
This time the twins exchanged looks, apparently having a silent conversation with each other.
Case looked back at him, "We'll accept that…for now."
"There is just one more thing though…" Ryder said, then stepped forward and threw his fist into Steve's face.
The force of the punch sent Steve stumbling backward into the wall as he clutched at his now throbbing nose, "What the hell was that for?"
"That's for treating Doctor Banner like a time bomb waiting to go off, and be thankful I'm leaving it at that," Ryder said, cracking his knuckles and shaking out his hand. "Because after that display in there? If I hadn't known you since I was six, I would have kicked your ass on principle alone."
"You don't think Stark trying to provoke him is dangerous?" Steve demanded, still rubbing at his nose, making sure it wasn't bleeding.
"You don't think this—" Ryder waved a gloved hand in Steve's face, "—is dangerous?"
"That's different! You saw the footage! You read the reports!"
Ryder took a step back, "Yes, yes I did. And while I think Stark was being an idiot, I also think you were a little quick to judge. Clearly Banner's doing his best to keep in control. And he even said that if he didn't think he could control himself he wouldn't be here."
"To someone who works hard at maintaining, an asshole like Stark isn't going to change things overnight," Case added.
"Look, again, I'm sorry," Steve said, a little more earnestly than the first time. "Either one of you loses control of your mutations…usually it only affects one person, if any. Not that it makes it any better but…you can't knock us out of the sky and injure got knows how many others if you lose it. And I know that's not fair to Doctor Banner…it was more anger at Stark for trying to provoke him to begin with."
Case looked at Ryder, who gave a shrug, "I said my piece and slugged him in the face, I'm good."
"Alright," Case gave a nod of acceptance, "You're forgiven…I would say don't pull shit like that again…but when have you ever had a lid on your temper?"
"That's the pot calling the kettle black," Ryder smirked, then he gave a grunt of pain as Case punched him in the shoulder. As he rubbed his bicep, he asked, "So what is all this?"
"As loath as I am to admit it, Stark did have a point," Steve said, going back to the door. He grabbed hold of it as best as he could and started pulling, grunting out, "So I figured...why wait for Stark? Let's see what SHIELD is hiding."
The door finally gave way, and Steve slid it into the pocket, silently making his way into the storage unit, Case and Ryder following close behind.
He gave a nod toward the platform overhead, before hopping on a few storage containers to take a leap and grab the platform, easily flipping over the railing.
And making even less noise than Steve had, Ryder and Case leapt up and over the railing, once again following Steve's lead.
"Must've been rough," Sam said as Ryder finished his story, his voice sounding a little distracted, eyes glued to the screen in front of him.
They were currently in the common area of the Avengers' Tower, seated in front of one of the large screens, beating each other senseless in a fighting video game, and Sam let out a colorful round of curses as his character fell off the map and Ryder won by default.
Ryder shook his head, "Ya know, Sammy, the trick to winning is not falling off? Just a little tip for you."
"Fuck off," Sam scowled, before restarting the game. "So…Case had a problem with Tony's old man?"
"Never really got over the whole 'fondue' thing…but I think it was because of how Howard reacted toward it, putting it all on Peggy because she was a woman," Ryder said, fingers flying over the controller buttons as he spoke. "Not that, you know, Steve unfortunately was caught in the crossfire of two women and didn't know how to react…and I do think Case wasn't too far off the mark as to why Howard asked her out in the first place."
"Really?"
"Well, it's what I woulda done," Ryder said, as his character was knocked off the platform and the phrase RING OUT flashed across the screen. "If I'd had that shot with Viola? Get a little fondue, get a small room and a bottle of wine and see where the night took us."
"And what about…?"
"Sam, don't start," Ryder pinched at the bridge of his nose as he got to his feet. "I'm here to talk about…other things."
"Where is Natasha by the way?"
"She's reaching out to her contact in Kiev," Ryder said as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water.
Sam sat at the counter, frowning, "You guys have a lead on Bucky?"
Ryder shook his head, "Case and I aren't searching Bucky. We'll help Steve when he's looking, but Case and I made an agreement that we don't actively seek him out."
"Then why is she…" Sam trailed off when he realized what Ryder was doing. "Ballsy move man, ballsy move."
"I need answers, Sam…and Case can't even say the word 'mom' without letting loose her claws," Ryder said.
"I hope you know what you're doing…"
"Yeah, me too," Ryder admitted. "Anyway…where were we?"
"The Avengers downright hated each other for being obnoxious assholes."
"Right, right," Ryder nodded. "Fasten your seatbelt…it's gonna get a lot worse from there."
Steve stormed back toward the science laboratory, with Case and Ryder in tow, hot on his heels.
"Yeah, and then you get your Cube back. No muss, no fuss," they could hear Stark speaking as they reached the lab. "What is 'Phase Two'?"
Steve answered the question by slamming a Hydra blaster onto the table with a loud clank. "Phase Two is SHIELD uses the Cube to make weapons." He squared his shoulders and turned toward Stark and Banner, "Sorry, computer was running a little slow for me."
Fury turned to face him, "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean—"
"I'm sorry Nick!" Stark called out, reaching up to turn one of his overhead monitors toward them, images of what looked like a missile assembling itself on the screen, "What were you lying?"
"I was wrong, Director," Steve said, "The world hasn't changed a bit."
Thor and Agent Romanoff appeared in the room next.
"Did you know about this?" Banner directed at Romanoff, motioning to the screen with his glasses.
"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Romanoff said in lieu of an answer.
Banner seemed a little annoyed, but he kept his face neutral and gave a nervous laugh as he said, "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."
"Loki's manipulating you—"
"And you've been doing what, exactly?"
"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," Banner said, moving toward the screen. He took hold of it and pointed with his glasses as he said, "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!"
Fury waited a moment, then pointed, "Because of him!"
Thor frowned in confession, "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," Thor protested.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Fury snapped. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched…that can't be controlled."
Case gave a laugh of disbelief, making the rest of the group pay attention to the twins for the first time since the whole confrontation began. "I'm finally starting to see what Dad was talking about…why we had to hide."
"Hide…that's a good one," Fury laughed. "Seventy years is a long time…and I know you're familiar with Logan Howlett…but do the names Victor Creed and Kayla Silverfox ring a bell?"
Ryder squared his shoulders, "Victor Creed is our uncle."
"Well, I have a list of people your uncle hurt when he was let loose on the population," Fury informed them, "Would you like it chronologically or alphabetically?"
"Look…whatever they did…we are not them," Case said stepping toward Fury.
"And sorry to burst your…weirdly naïve bubble, but the world is already filled with creatures that you can't even hope to control," Ryder added. "Albeit…one less, considering our mother died many years ago."
Fury looked confused, but before he could respond Stark decided to put his two cents into the mix. "Apparently this…Professor Xavier handles all the ones like you. From what I've gathered, you two were supposed to be sent to him once you were out of the ice."
Ryder and Case both took a step back from Fury, and Ryder turned to his friend, "Steve?"
Steve sighed, "SHIELD was already planning on sending you to Doctor Xavier even before you woke up…"
Ryder gave a huff, "Right…send the freaks upstate…keep them hidden, away from the world. Because although his team does amazing work…people still don't trust mutants."
"And many of them think like Loki," Fury snapped. "That they're above humanity…or did you miss the little history lesson about Magneto's Liberty Island attack?"
"In case you missed it, we don't think like that!" Case snapped.
"And it was your work with the Tesseract that drew Loki to it, and his allies!" Thor added, taking a step toward Fury. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."
"A higher form?" Steve asked.
"You forced our hand," Fury argued, "We had to come up with something—"
"A nuclear deterrent," Stark interrupted. "Because that always calms everything right down."
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark."
Steve stepped forward, "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep—"
"Wai-wait, hold on, how is this now about me?"
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"
"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor frowned.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury demanded, rounding on the Asgardian.
"You treat your champions with such mistrust!"
"Are you boys really that naïve? SHIELD monitors potential threats."
"Captain America's on a threat watch?" Banner asked in disbelief.
"We all are," Romanoff snapped.
"Wait, you're on that list?" Stark asked, "Are you above or below angry bees?"
"Stark, so help me God if you make one more wisecrack—" Steve began.
"Threat! Verbal threat! I feel threatened!"
"Show some respect!"
"Respect? Respect what?"
The voices started to blur together after that, as a high-pitched whining noise began to grow louder. Unbeknownst to the others, Case and Ryder drew back even further, both cringing as they tried to cover their ears to block out the excruciating sound.
"Steve…" Case whispered, trying to get her friend's attention.
"You speak of control but you court chaos!" Thor told Fury.
"Steve…" Ryder tried this time, voice a little louder but barely above a croak.
"That's his M.O. isn't it?" Banner asked. "I mean, what are we a team? No, no, no, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're…we're a time bomb."
"You need to step away," Fury told him.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Stark demanded, clapping a hand on Steve's shoulder.
"You know damn well why! Now back off!" Steve snapped, shrugging off the hand.
"I'm starting to want you to make me," Stark challenged.
"Here we go again," Case mumbled, finally managing to muffle the sound to a more comfortable level.
"Yeah…big man in a suit of armor," Steve said as he circled Stark. "Take that off, what are you?"
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Stark said without hesitation.
"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage…the only thing you really fight for is yourself," Steve growled. "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," Steve smirked, "You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
"Steve…" Ryder hissed.
"A hero? Like you?" Stark snapped. "You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"
As Case's temper rose at the comment her claws shot out of her hands, and she gave a small gasp of pain as she clutched at her hands, trying to remain unnoticed. At Ryder's concerned look she whispered, "I'm all right…"
Steve was still smirking at Stark, "Put on the suit…let's go a few rounds."
Thor gave a humorless laugh as he said, "You people are so petty…and tiny."
"Yeah, this is a team," Banner rolled his eyes.
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Doctor Banner back to his—"
"Where?" Banner asked, interrupting Fury. "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," Banner informed him. He folded his arms uncomfortably and said, "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 put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"
Subtly, Fury and Romanoff reached for their weapons, the straps on the holsters clicking as they released.
"Doctor Banner," Steve began. "Put down the scepter."
Banner gazed at the scepter clutched in his left hand, apparently confused about the fact he was holding it to begin with.
Suddenly, an alarm started chiming from one of the computers.
"Got it," Stark announced.
Banner carefully put the scepter back on the table and walked past the group as he said, "Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."
"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.
"I could get there fastest," Stark said.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it."
"You're not going alone!" Steve told Stark as he grabbed hold of his wrist.
Stark slapped him away, "You gonna stop me?"
"Put on the suit let's find out."
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."
"Put on the suit," Steve snapped.
Banner, who'd been checking the beeping monitor, pulled off his glasses and breathed, "Oh my God…"
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the Helicarrier. The force of it blew Thor and Fury right off their feet while Banner, Ryder, and Romanoff were blown through a hole in the floor.
Case slammed into Steve as he and Stark landed near the doorway.
"Put on the suit!" Steve ordered.
"Yeah!" Stark said simply as he scrambled to his feet, all three of them booking out the door.