For a few moments, nobody moved. Nobody wanted to wake the clearly unconscious figure lying on the ground. It took them about five minutes to realize that the Tesseract, for lack of a better name for her, wasn't going to wake up anytime soon. Even then, nobody knew what to do. After all, there's no pamphlet detailing what to do if an object you thought was inanimate suddenly comes to life in the middle of your lab.
"Well, Loki, this is your area of expertise. What do you suggest we do?" Stark said, clearly trying to remain calm (and failing).
Loki was almost tempted to just leave the room and let the Avengers take care of the mess, but one, he would get in so much trouble for that, and two, Stark was, unfortunately, right. This was his area of expertise, and that made him extremely curious about the woman who had just appeared.
"Well, we should bring her to the MedBay and run some basic diagnostic tests on her. See if she's human, and if she's dangerous." That sounded reasonable. Just take this step by step, and maybe everything would work out okay.
Rogers leaned over and picked her up as gently as possible. "She's really light. Is that normal?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Loki hissed. "Just bring her to the MedBay."
None of the other Avengers really knew what to do, but it wasn't like they were going to leave, not when things were just getting exciting, which is how they all ended up packed together in the MedBay. Thank goodness Banner had passing knowledge of how the machines functioned because there was no way that they were letting ordinary doctors run tests on the possibly most powerful being in the universe.
Banner hooked up the Tesseract to a couple of machines. They hummed and whirred, running whatever tests they had been built to run, although how they worked was a bit of a mystery to Loki.
The machines started churning out data. Banner looked confused as he attempted to interpret the readings. "I'm not an actual expert in this stuff. Maybe we should get a real doctor to look at these readings, because I have no idea what they mean."
Black Widow rolled her eyes. "Just let FRIDAY analyze the readings."
Banner turned slightly pink. "Right."
The red light in the corner of the room blinked to life. Loki would have found this creepy if he hadn't been used to the guards back on Asgard, who were present almost everywhere, watching him and analysing him, much as FRIDAY did.
"The readings are the same readings you would expect from a normal human. Human, female, of Asian descent if you go by her DNA, 5' 2", and healthy. The machines also put her age at around 25, which according to information from other sources, is incorrect. The Infinity Stones are said to be hundreds of thousands of years old, so she must be at least that old. If we take that number to be correct, then she also can't be human because humans definitely weren't around at the time."
Barnes looked shocked. "You're saying she spent hundreds of thousands of years stuck in that stone?"
"It would appear that way, sir."
Loki couldn't imagine what it would be like spending hundreds of thousands of years in solitary confinement. The longest he had been contained against his will had been for mere days, and even then he had found himself losing a grasp on reality.
"We have no idea what kind of mental state she's going to be in when she wakes up. Not to mention it appears she's lost her powers in the process. We have no idea how she's going to react to that, and we need to be prepared for every possibility." Leave it to Romanoff to consider every possible threat.
The Tesseract, who had been lying peacefully on the MedBay hospital bed, was starting to stir. This was absolutely great. Loki had hoped that she might stay unconscious for a while, but no, she had to wake up now.
Not a single person moved; they all just stared at her.
She woke up suddenly, sitting up in a rush of motion. Nobody moved. She looked vaguely confused. Loki had no idea what kinds of thoughts were rushing through her head. How would she feel about her newfound freedom? Scared? Joyful? Angry? Then her brow cleared. She looked. . . interested, but in a bored way?
"Hello there. My subconsciousness has been very busy while I was asleep, I see." Her voice had a slight accent that Loki couldn't describe. "This is the second time this year that I've woken up to find I've created shadow people. I really need to get a hold on myself." She fiddled with the cuff of her sleeve. "But wow, I've created the Avengers. This is both annoying and really cool at the same time."
For a few moments, no one seemed to know what to say. She sounded rather insane.
Everyone was looking at Loki, expecting him to do this. Great. "Um, hello. What's your name? You -"
"Oh, a shadow that doesn't know who I am. How fascinating!" She frowned slightly, tilting her head to the side to study him. "My name's Nova. And you must be Loki, or at least, my imagination's representation of Loki. Nice to meet you."
Loki blinked a few times, trying to process what the Tesser-, Nova, had just said. "Nice to meet you, Nova, but I really should clear some things up. I'm not a 'shadow', I'm perfectly real." She clearly had some kind of mental trauma, and Loki wasn't sure if he should have been that blunt, but whatever.
Nova looked rather mystified. "Shadows who don't know anything. Usually they end up with some form of my consciousness. Let's start from the beginning. My powers are void and shadow substance manipulation, which manifests in the material plane as the ability to create pure energy and manipulate space. Do you know what I can do?"
"Yes, I know you're the Tesseract-"
"Oh, so you do know some things about me. Well, let me fill in your memory. I was imprisoned in this alternate plane. . . a pocket dimension. Just nod if you know what I'm talking about."
Loki nodded. He did know she had been imprisoned in another dimension. How else could a being fit in such a small space?
"So this dimension I'm trapped in is a void plane." His confusion must have shown on his face because she explained further. "This dimension is composed entirely of shadow substance, and my powers manipulate void, so I can do whatever I want here. It's like . . ." She paused for a moment, frowned, and then continued. "Never mind, I'm horrible at thinking of similes. Basically, the only limit is my imagination and the walls of my prison."
"You're not in the Spa-"
The Tesseract held up her hand. "Hey, hey, let me finish, shadow Loki. No interrupting."
Loki shut his mouth with a snap.
"Occasionally I get homesick or lonely and my subconscious fabricates shadows when I'm asleep, like you. Earlier this year I woke up to my family standing over me, which was nice until I realized that it meant I was going insane. I had to get rid of them before my mental state deteriorated any further. Hopefully I won't have to do the same for you. Do you know why I created you?"
Well, this was an interesting development. Fabricating people in her sleep because she was lonely. And she seemed to think that Loki was himself a fabrication as well. It kind of reminded him of all the times he had created a duplicate of himself just to cheer himself up because no one else was going to do it. You know your life isn't going well when you are literally comforting yourself.
The rest of the Avengers seemed to be in varying states of confusion, although they did seem to understand the general idea of what was going on. Scratch that, Loki had no idea what was going on in their heads.
Time to tell the Tesseract the truth. "You're not in the Space Stone anymore. You're free."
He must have said the wrong thing, because Nova froze so suddenly and so completely that she resembled a deer caught in headlights.
Then she shook herself and smiled sadly. "So that's why I created all of you. And I was so excited to meet the Avengers. I've been watching you guys, you know, through the stone. The things you do are amazing. Unfortunately, you are clearly the result of my longing for freedom, and the last thing I want to do is mix up reality with imagination, so I'm going to have to get rid of you."
That might have scared Loki, but the fact that the Tesseract had no power made her harmless. She didn't look strong, or fast, or scary, especially not sitting in bed like that.
Nova held out her hands, shut her eyes as if concentrating, and then moved her hands with a diagonal slashing motion. She did it with such control and grace that Loki could imagine her simultaneously conducting an orchestra and leveling cities with her immense power at the same time. It looked very impressive, and would have been impressive, if something had actually happened.
Her eyes flew open and registered that they, in fact, were still there. Her brows creased with confusion, Nova repeated the motion. Then she shut her eyes again as if reaching for some kind of power inside and finding nothing. She looked up, panicking. "What happened to me? What have you done to me? Is this a dream?"
"Like I've been trying to tell you, you're free. I was conducting an experiment on the Space Stone and the containment spell broke. FRIDAY, pull up the footage."
Nova watched in awe at the recording of the Tesseract breaking apart, the sudden fluctuation of power, the pulses of light and darkness, and her sudden appearance on the floor of the lab. She stared at the screen for a few moments after the recording finished before looking back at Loki.
She swung out of her bed in one fluid motion and began to pace the floor.
"So I'm out. I mean, I don't think my powers are good enough to fabricate a video like that, so we assume it to be true." She turned to the rest of the Avengers. "Does that mean you're all real?" She looked equal parts amazed and embarrassed. "So I said all that stuff. . . you must have thought I was insane. I guess this is what happens when you spend a couple hundred thousand years alone."
Loki resisted the urge to say yes, we did in fact think you were mad, because that wouldn't go down very well.
This was an excellent opportunity to see how the Avengers were reacting to this. . . strange turn of events. Vision looked immensely confused, and so did Scarlet Witch. Black Widow was studying the Tesseract like she was some kind of threat, and looked ready to act at the first sign of danger. Falcon looked slightly confused.
Was he calling them all by their codenames? Loki guessed he had reverted straight to mission mode, which meant thinking of the Avengers in terms of their alter egos.
Iron Man looked wary, like Nova was some kind of animal that you couldn't trust long enough to turn your back. The Winter Soldier, (was that what Barnes went by?) looked kind of sad, no doubt remembering the times he too had been trapped and forced to do things against his will. Captain America looked more worried about Barnes than about the Tesseract, maybe afraid that this was going to trigger his memories or something equally silly.
Nova was still pacing, muttering something under her breath. Her brows furrowed deeper and deeper as she became lost in thought. Then she froze and looked up, as if everything made sense. Loki could see fear in her eyes. "That makes sense, I guess. Is that the catch?"
"I'm sorry, what?" That was sudden, and kind of off topic. Why was she so scared?
"There's always a catch. Always, always, always. I get my freedom, at the cost of what? My power? Is this what you want from me?" Her voice was steadily rising as she spoke, and the look of fear in her eyes was the look you see in animals, pinned against a wall. She took a step back. "I thought you were good people."
Cap held out his hand in some kind of half-hearted attempt to placate her. "We didn't do anything to your powers. I swear, we haven't done anything to you other than carry you from the lab here and run some basic tests on you." Of course he would react the moment his integrity came into question.
The Tesseract looked up and eyed him suspiciously; fear, anger, and sadness battling in her eyes. "And why should I believe you?"
Stark jumped in. "What could we do with your power that we couldn't do when you were contained in the Space Stone? You're most powerful combined with the other Infinity Stones."
Nova considered it for a second. "I suppose that makes sense." Some of the tension in her body was released. She still looked ready to fight, although Loki wasn't sure what kind of harm she could inflict in this state.
She rubbed her temples. "So I'm free, but powerless. What do I do now?"
It sounded like she was talking to herself, but Maximoff spoke up. "Maybe you should stay with us until you figure out what happened to your powers."
The other Avengers looked at her, varying levels of shock on their faces. Everyone seemed to think it was a bad idea, just didn't want to say it was a bad idea because they weren't completely horrible people. Loki knew from experience, though, that often withholding information was more hurtful than just saying it.
Nova shook her head decisively. "The power released from the Space Stone was probably felt around the galaxy, and I know quite a few creatures that would stop at nothing to get their hands on me. Until I get my powers back, I'm just a liability."
"More of a reason for you to stay. We can protect you." That was Rogers, always trying to be a hero. Loki wasn't sure how Barnes could stand his constant need to keep people safe, usually against their will.
She looked away, rubbing her temples. "This is happening too fast. I need time to process, to figure out my plan. And I need a lot of time alone."
"If you're getting chased by people who could use you for power or world domination or anything like that, then it's our duty to keep you safe, even if you don't want us to."
Stark was really bad at reading people. Loki could tell that Nova actually liked the idea of being able to stay, she just didn't want to say anything because she was afraid of getting rejected. If Stark could have only realized that, maybe he wouldn't have phrased that quite so threateningly.
Nova looked startled, and wary. "Fine, I'll stay. I didn't know it mattered so much to you."
Loki had to refrain from rolling his eyes. Could no one in this room read people? No, that was wrong. Black Widow was an expert at reading emotions and getting information from people. After all, she had obtained information from him, and he prided himself on being impossible to read.
Nova repeated herself, staring at each of them in turn. "I'll stay until I get my powers back. And then I'm going to leave, and if you try to stop me, I will kill you all. Understand?"
ENDNOTES: Thank you to everyone who's read my story so far, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!