Chapter 53

Daisy could tell her father was getting bored. The program was running, tracing the Tesseract twice as fast as it could have without Daisy's help, but it wasn't immediate. Tony was bored, and it was obvious when he poked Banner.

"What the Hell dad," Daisy physically smacked him before Captain Rodgers could even speak. "No, poking. Honestly you're supposed to be the one teaching me to keep my hands to myself. You honestly make me wonder which of us is the dad and which of us is the kid."

Banner smiled softly, "It's alright, Daisy. I wouldn't be here if I couldn't handle little things like that."

"That's not the point," Daisy wasn't going to let her dad off the hook so easily. She was in charge. She was the agent (almost). He would respect her and not just see her as the awkward teenager who he first met. "You don't push people's buttons for fun, not when people's lives are at stake, okay?" Tony didn't reply, but his eyes said everything. He was shocked that Daisy would speak to him like that, but he understood her. He understood why she was putting him in his place. He didn't like it, but he understood it.

"Are you going to yell at me for the decryption program too, because I know you saw that. By the way, why didn't you rat me out to Fury. It looks like he has you pretty deep in his pocket."

Daisy barely spoke to Director Fury. Most of her interactions were with Coulson, Clint, and Nat. Still, she understood what he was saying. She'd gotten a lot because of her optimal position as peacekeeper. Fury needed her to do things like stop her dad from unleashing the Hulk. "As an agent I wasn't concerned. I encrypted all of S.H.I.E.L.D's files myself and I know you can't get through what I set up."

"Are you really smarter than him?" Captain Rodgers seemed impressed, and Daisy blushed at his words.

"Not smarter probably," she grinned going over to the computer and decrypting the files herself. "But better with computers certainly. Anyway, what were you looking for? Technically I blocked myself out of all these files, but that was more of a 'lead us not into temptation' thing." Tony came round to her side of the computer, but she swiveled more so he couldn't see the screen. "I'm in charge, remember. Tell me what you want and I'll pull it up and if I think it's information you should have I'll share."

Even Steve looked a bit bothered by that assessment. "Who are you to decide what we can and can't know?"

Daisy actually had to think on that for a second. Why should she decide what was shared and what wasn't? There were groups out there that Daisy respected for sharing all information, but she also saw the dangers in that. She knew that there was stuff out there that people were better off not knowing. Things that should they come to light would satisfy curiosity, and get people killed in the process. "I'm the one devoted to being the shield between your world of superheroes and the real world of human beings. And I'm also the only one who can make the call, so it has to fall to me. What do you want to know?"

"Why was I not called in on the Tesseract? It's clean energy like the arc reactor, why wasn't I called in?" For a split second Daisy thought this was about her father's ego and was not going to indulge him, but then she wondered herself. There were whispers in S.H.I.E.L.D about how to fight those with powers. There was a lot of talk about what they'd do if next time a Thor showed up he wasn't so friendly.

Tony thought S.H.I.E.L.D was building weapons, and Daisy searched for the files because she figured he was probably right.

"They're making weapons to fight off an alien invasion or other superhuman threat," Daisy sighed, turning the screen so they could see the guns and aircrafts. "There are dozens of projects, Insight, Phase 2. It would take years to look through all the things S.H.I.E.L.D has come up with to stop people with powers, people like us."

"Us?" Captain Rodgers repeated Daisy's word, looking at her anew. Daisy cursed herself. She hadn't explained the 0-8-4 thing to her father, and didn't plan on telling him, or any of the Avengers.

"You guys, my dad, the Avengers," Daisy deflected flipping through the files. "It looks like phase 2 was specifically designed to use the Tesseract as a power source."

"How do you work for these people," Tony sounded disgusted, and disappointed in Daisy. She found anger bubbling within her. Technically he was working for them as well at the moment! She knew S.H.I.E.L.D could be messed up, but they were trying to do what they could under impossible circumstances.

Daisy didn't get a chance to defend herself though, because she heard Natasha's voice coming from the coms in her ear. "Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Daisy, you need to separate him from the other Avengers."

"Dr. Banner, I need you to come with me. We'll resolve this issue later, but for now there is something we need to take care of."

"Something's wrong," Tony realized knowing his daughter well enough to feel her panic despite her calm exterior. "What is more dangerous than S.H.I.E.L.D with weapons to destroy superheroes?"

Superheroes themselves. "Just please come with me Dr. Banner. I'll owe you an explanation later, but for now we need to go. Dad, Captain Rodgers, no fighting. Just eat your blueberries or call Pepper or something, okay?"

"Where are you bringing me?" Dr. Banner fretted as Daisy led him down spiraling hallways. "You rented my cell to Loki."

"If it makes you feel better we also have an EMP to shut down my dad's suit, and enough tranqs to knock even a supersoldier out," Daisy admitted with a shrug. They didn't have any safety precautions for Thor of course, because they had no idea how to stop aliens. Hence why phase 2 was a thing, even if it was one of their more terrible ideas. "I'm bringing you to a basic lodging quarters. You're not a threat, so long as you're away from the others. Loki thinks the whole team is a ticking time bomb, and knowing my dad's in the mix means he's probably right."

Dr. Banner followed silently for a minute, but as they made their way to the more secluded end of the ship, he couldn't help but speak up. "You and your father, do you not get along?"

"We get along fine," Daisy shrugged not sure how to describe it. "He just does stupid things a lot, and we both know it. He usually only gets mad when I call him out on it, but he doesn't hold grudges against me for it. We've only gotten in huge fights once or twice, and not in years." Dr. Banner seemed surprised by that, probably because of how much Daisy had been scolding her father since he showed up. "We'll never be normal, but what we have is nice."

Bruce opened his mouth as if to say something, but found himself, and Daisy flung across the corridor. Something had blown up, that was for sure, and the Other guy didn't seem to like it. Within an instant Daisy could see the bulging green muscles of the Hulk. She's managed to keep the other Avengers from being in the fight, but now she was stuck with him in a crumbling ship, and with no way out.

"Dr. Banner, you need to relax," Daisy attempted to keep her voice steady, and didn't even bother pulling the gun on her side. For one, she'd never shot anything outside Ops class, and two it wasn't like a simple bullet could stop the Hulk. "There is no threat, probably just turbulence." Turbulence that felt surprisingly like an explosion.

It didn't appear that Daisy's calming voice was doing much good. The Hulk was coming out, and Dr. Banner disappeared, engulfed by the monster he hated. "Raaaaar!" the Hulk roared smashing the ground next to Daisy.

"Get out of here!" Daisy called to the mechanics coming to see what was wrong. "I'll be fine, just keep out!"

Fine was probably an exaggeration. The Hulk was raging around her, trying to crush her as well as the ship. Daisy needed to get out, but she also needed to stop the Hulk. How could she though? He was a raging monster that hadn't been taken down by tanks. Nothing could stop the Hulk.

No, she needed to get him out of the ship. Dr. Banner surely wouldn't be hurt, the Hulk couldn't be killed, but everyone on the Helicarrier could be. "Hey big guy," Daisy called and the Hulk raged towards her. Daisy took off in a flash and he lumbered towards her. If it really had been a bomb, then there was a hole in the helicarrier. If there was a hole in the helicarrier… well gravity worked on superheroes.

Daisy led the Hulk down a stairway, which he promptly broke. At the bottom she noticed the weaken beams. If she got the Hulk down there he'd fall right through, but if she was down there she'd fall as well. She'd have to stay on the staircase while the Hulk went down it, and somehow not get run over.

Daisy sang praises to Natasha Romanoff as she held on to the stairway the 'right' way. Her muscles ached as she hung on, but it did the trick. The Hulk bent the stairs and fell straight through the hanger floor. As he did though, the stairs came crashing down on top of Daisy. She found herself hanging from the helicarrier, wind burning her face as she stared at the open sky.

Her leg was trapped under the broken stairway, but that was the least of her problem. Her problem was getting her leg out without falling out the same way the Hulk did. She wouldn't survive like he did.

Pain seared as she pulled the broken bone out balancing herself the best she could. With a final tug, she managed to get it free, and breathed a sigh of relief as she scrambled away from the edge. She had just begun to cry in relief when she heard a sickening crack, and the weakened floor opened up beneath her.