Hello everyone! Here is the chapter where shit hits the fan! Carrie is thrown into battle and Loki manipulates things to his advantage.

Disclaimer: I do not own Carrie White or the Avengers or any MCU characters.

Chapter 9: Deceit

Carrie woke up automatically, a kneejerk reaction to the raising voices and frantically tried to find the source of the conflict, power curling inwards, ready to blast any offenders back.

When one lived with a mentally ill mother who beat them regularly whenever she wanted, screamed, and threw objects, they didn't react well to waking up to an argument. Carrie's school life couldn't even be a sanctuary because she needed to keep her guard up against the bullying and when she didn't fade into the background, she ended up getting yelled at by Chris and her followers. They always seemed so angry that she was just alive.

(You worthless piece of shit. Why are you here? Stupid, ugly, and pathetic.)

She didn't really see anything as she scrambled to her feet, back pressed lightly against the wall, and tried to sort out the threat. All of the Avengers potentials were in the lab, with Director Fury also in attendance, bickering steadily growing. No one noticed Carrie yet – another skill she developed to survive living with Margaret was to move as quiet as possible. It was only a few weeks ago that she found out the Power also helped, making her as unnoticeable and unimportant as possible to any observers if Carrie was near her breaking point.

It seemed to be doing that now, Carrie called on it deliberately before she was fully aware of her surroundings, unsure it would work. If she made any sudden movements it would fail, but as long as she kept still the adults wouldn't take notice of her. Swallowing, the teenager listened in.

SHIELD was using the Tesseract to make weapons. (Carrie wasn't surprised but it was still disappointing.) Phill hadn't mentioned anything about it to her. (Of course, not she was an assignment, no matter how much he might like her.) Thor's arrival had spooked the entire world and left them very aware of how outmatched and outgunned they were. SHIELD was desperate to close that gap as much as they could.

The others, bar (Ms.) Agent Romanoff, were criticizing Fury for his actions and Carrie found herself being brought up as an example with the Cube.

"The Tesseract and the Scepter's power is something we barely understand." Bruce said, icy calm as he removed his glasses. "SHIELD attempting to make weapons with them isn't a surprise, but you should not have exposed Carrie to them."

"We weren't making any headway after the initial breakthrough," Fury said patiently. "When White proved to be able to communicate with the Cube, we needed to seize the opportunity. The data Selvig and his team got in that week was richer than anything they collected the past year."

"So that makes everything better." Tony said sarcastically.

"She's a traumatized, abused child with powers she can barely understand and control." Bruce said, a bit too quietly. "No one has any idea what exposing her mind to these energies will do to her mental health in the future. Its frail enough as it is."

"She isn't a child Banner, Chamberlain made sure of that." Director Fury said flatly. "The only thing SHIELD has told her is the truth – there are people much worse and amoral that will break her to get her power. People who will put her crazy mother's abuse to shame and she has to be protected from them. Her powers are also too potent and useful to go uncheck and untapped. It isn't as if we've ignored her mental health –"

"Nah," It was Tony again. "You just gave her a SHIELD psychiatrist, put her under the friendly-likable Super Nanny Agent that's 110% loyal to you, and kept her isolated the last month you've had her."

"White isn't just an asset, she's also a potential threat." Agent Romanoff said calmly. "SHIELD has her under guard and is taking every measure we can to avoid her becoming a threat in the future."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's why you put off introducing her to that Professor Xavier guy."

Carrie's brow furrowed in confusion. She saw her bewilderment echoed in Thor and Steve's face.

"Professor Xavier?" Steve repeated.

"Powerful mutant with mind scramble powers that runs a school for kids like Carrie." Tony said. "You knew he would try to convince Carrie to leave if he found out you had her. I mean, sure, from what I know he has his own little group of supers, but he'd be way more worried about getting her help than putting the kid on a team to fight superpowered baddies."

The teenager in question held herself tight. There were kids like her somewhere?

Director Fury shared a look with Agent Romanoff before turning back to the billionaire. "We always intended to call in Professor X, Stark. Loki's arrival messed up quite a bit of what we had planned for Ms. White."

"Sure."

"I find I must agree with Doctor Banner and Lord Stark," Thor spoke up, deadly serious. "Allowing Lady Carrie to interact with forces beyond humanity's understanding may have serious repercussions on her mind and body. I do not have the necessary teachings to determine precisely how, but severe consequences are likely for her if this continues. Not only that, but in tampering with the Tesseract and having someone capable of connecting to it such a way as she, you are announcing that Earth is ready for a higher form of war. Loki and his allies are only the beginning."

"A higher form?" Bruce repeated. Tony, meanwhile, looked amused at how Thor addressed him, but was quick to call out Fury on trying to use the Tesseract as a deterrent when the latter tried to defend himself.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark." Fury said, irritated.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep. . ." Steve cut in.

"Whoa, how is this now about me?"

Carrie covered her ears, and bit down on her lower lip. She caught the glow from the Scepter and realized what was happening – everyone's negative emotions were being amplified. Maybe hers were too. Carrie couldn't let this continue so she stepped forward, breaking the look-away thought bubble she put around herself. The adults were so busy arguing they didn't notice.

Director Fury, Agent Romanoff, and Thor were visibly getting more agitated, but Steve and Tony were the ones nose to nose, looking seconds away from lashing out at each other.

Then Bruce got everyone's attention when Fury tried to get him out of the room, and he brought up Loki's cell. SHIELD's director tried to justify it, but Bruce cut him off saying that it wouldn't kill him – he'd already tried.

The room got very quiet; Carrie wasn't surprised. She knew his history and he reminded her a lot of herself. If she hadn't been so dead set on living long enough for one good thing to happen to her, Carrie would have taken her own life years ago. Bruce's attempt was understandable, but no less heartbreaking.

As he reached for Scepter, she reached out too.

" – I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. I was fine, until you –"

Carrie had walked around the Scepter's table from behind him, finally catching the eye of the adults and gently put her own hand over his as he reached behind him for the Scepter.

"You don't want to do that." She said.

Bruce hadn't seemed to realize what he was doing and was quick to take a step away from the Scepter as she walked around the table. Carrie let his hand go, and with her back to everyone, put a hand over the glow and tried to steady the energetic buzzing into a steady hum.

"I though I said if you're going to argue, don't do it so close to the Scepter." Carrie said softly. There was an awkward moment.

"Sorry, my bad." Tony muttered. "Got caught up in the heat of the moment."

"I'm sorry too Carrie." Steve admitted. "How long -?"

"Have I been awake? Long enough. Director Fury. . . is there really school with kids like me?"

'Don't give me false hope.' Carrie wanted to say. 'Be honest with me, like you always have.'

"Yes, Ms. White there is." Fury said. "You haven't reached it in your studies yet but there are a group of humans referred to as mutants who develop powers. One of them, Xavier, opened a school to give them a place to call home – I'm sure you can understand that not all parents would be understanding."

"No, they wouldn't." Carrie felt her heart was in her throat. Kids with powers, some whose families had mistreated them and cast them out. They were like her. Could Carrie have found out about the one school she could just be a normal student at? A place where kids her age might like her?

"Am I a mutant?"

"You tested negative for the X-gene." Agent Romanoff said. "It's possible you're part of a new branch."

"I –, " Carrie stopped. The scanner set to locate the Tesseract went off. Bruce immediately went to check the screen and see the results.

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked, following Agent Romanoff to join Bruce at the screen.

"I can get there faster." Tony said.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard." Thor turned to him sternly. "No human is a match for it."

The billionaire was already moving to get his Iron Man suit, but Steve grabbed his arm. "You're not going alone."

Tony jerked his arm away. "What, you're going to stop me?"

"Put on the suit, let's find –"

"STOP IT!" Carrie snapped. She wasn't sure where all the distress was coming from, why she felt like crying. Was it finding out about Professor X's school, the Scepter messing with her mind, or the way she woke up and how the arguing just kept on and on and on? "I don't want to hear this anymore. If you can't stop arguing, then just get away from the Scepter! Leave the room, just go!"

She didn't notice how the furniture shook, both men looked wary and slightly regretful now.

"Ms. White." Director Fury warned. "Take a breather."

Bruce said something but Carrie didn't catch it – and then everything exploded.

The initial blast flung her backward into the Scepter's table as everyone else in the room was tossed aside. The teenager heard the crash of shattering glass, felt the bite of shards digging into her skin, and heard alarms blare.

Everything was murky for a few minutes, and slowly, Carrie was able to regain focus. She whimpered as her forehead pulsed painfully and carefully sat up. Seeing the Scepter nearby, the girl reached over and grabbed it. It seemed the explosion had tossed her through the window – but instead of falling below, she sailed right over it, onto the grating above the lower level.

Where was everyone else?

"YOUR LIFE?!" The deep, gravelly voice screamed below. Carrie felt the dread pool up in her stomach as she turned on her stomach and looked through the holes in the grating.

It was Black Widow and Bruce. . . turning green.

She pushed herself up, ignoring the urge to vomit and looked for any handholes she could use to pry a section of the floor open. Black Widow was slim enough, and the panels large enough, that she would only need to remove one. It hurt to focus though.

The Scepter hummed and Carrie let herself be taken in by it. The pain in her head faded away and the girl used that moment of clarity to pry an opening in the floor with her powers.

Romanoff looked up at the sound, and for the first time since Carrie met her, the woman's face was easy to read. The Black Widow was terrified, relieved, and close to tears as Bruce's transformation continued. Carrie reached out for the Power, the Scepter's humming an encouraging background noise and lifted the debris pinning Black Widow's foot. The redhead rolled out and the teenager let it drop as she psychically grabbed onto the older woman and pulled her to relative safety.

The agent was just pulling her legs up through the hole when the Hulk roared. Carrie realized, in the split second they had, his focus was on them.

She reacted.

Black Widow was throwed upward, back into the lab (Carrie hoped she didn't get impaled with any glass, but there wasn't time to check) and opened her mind further to the Scepter and the humming evolved into outright singing. It was wordless and empowering and devastatingly beautiful. Dangerous.

It saw what she wanted and let her have it.

Carrie zoomed forward, holding onto the Scepter as the Hulk smashed through the floor, only his upper body fitting, and zeroed in on her. He used precious seconds to try and squeeze himself up, before defaulting to smashing his way through the floor to follow her.

He was fast.

Carrie kept flinging herself forward, the Scepter adding a much-needed boost of power and barely kept herself ahead of the Hulk, frantically thinking on what she could do.

The Scepter specialized in minds, could she show him something to calm down? On her own, she would be too weak, but with this giving her an energy boost. . .

What else could she do? Carrie wasn't sure if the Scepter would protect her heart from the devastating stress that would hit her from taking on the Hulk. Working with his mind was the safer option.

They were reaching the end of the hall and Carrie spotted workers who wouldn't be able to escape in time. She reacted impulsively, doing a hard U-turn, and using her mind to tear open the wall in her way as the Hulk grabbed a hold of the level dividing them and used it to slow his momentum. This caused the floor below Carrie to peel back like tin foil, and he saw her go through her hastily made exit above him. The SHIELD employees were narrowly spared, able to pressed themselves to the side to avoid shrapnel.

On the other side of the wall was the hanger for all of the Helicarrier's smaller vessels. The workers immediately started running when the Hulk tore through the wall seconds after her, making it through in one jump.

Carrie kept the debris from flying past her where it could injury the SHIELD employees and tried to connect to the Hulk. It was hard because he kept trying to grab her, forcing the teenager to keep her distance. If he got his hands on her, she was dead.

The girl called on the Scepter's Song and, for lack of a better word, smacked the Hulk in the face with it as he picked up one of the smaller planes to throw at her. It didn't hurt him in any way, but it did get his attention, he tossed the aircraft away, groaned.

Yes!

Carrie pulled on her scant happy memories, hoping it would encourage Bruce to recall his own, and to her surprised the Scepter's Song pulled at her. The moment of distraction nearly cost her, but Carrie quickly threw herself back into her task before the Hulk could attack again.

The power was the song and her intent the lyrics, a story to weave into the melody. Carrie found herself not just pulling on memories from the last month but from her life in Chamberlain. Everything in her said that this was what she needed to do.

The Hulk Saw

Images of a small closet, with the blood-stained crucifix on its wall. He smelled the harsh stench of human filth and bitter salty tears, as Carrie tried to push herself into a corner away from where she'd been forced to urinate and feceate. Margaret White opens the closet only to beat her, and Carrie can only clean herself after the closet is "tided" in her mother's words, and the girl makes one more prayer for forgiveness.

Carrie then Sees an angry man bearing a strong resemblance to Bruce yelling and screaming at a woman who barely comes to his shoulder. The girl notes that Mrs. Banner passed on her eyes to her son as Mr. Banner suddenly sinks a knife into her ribcage.

There is pain and rage and grief; memories of warm hugs and quiet, tearful mutterings of 'it's going to be okay' even though Bruce has long since realized his mother is lying. Carrie smells cinnamon rolls.

The Hulk is looking at her now, not charging and Carrie opens up Prom Night and ties that in too, along with the pain, regret and howcouldIbesostupid?

'I know.' Carrie Says. 'I know; being alive hurts.'

She knew what it was like.

The girl held her breathe as the Hulk started to shrin-

There was a hand around her throat, the Scepter fell from her grasp as Carrie was swung up into the air. The Song shattered.

No.

"This ends now Loki."

Thor? Carrie looked at the Asgardian prince, terrified and confused as she grasped his wrist, wheezing. She tried to speak, to ask him why, when he spoke again.

"Brother, you will break any enchantment you've placed upon the mortal and cease this now."

He thought she was Loki? How? Then Carrie remembered her time at the lab – how she absently heard Tony mention Loki changing his suit in a shimmering light to his Asgardian garb. Loki had powers – Thor squeezed when she didn't speak fast enough. This may not be anything but a slap across the head to Loki, but she was suffering.

"Thor!" Carrie choked. "I'm not –"

The Hulk's roar drowned out her pleas. The Crown Prince looked up to see the green berserker more than twice his size bearing down on him and tossed Carrie to the side to confront him with both free hands.

She landed harshly on her side as Hulk pushed Thor back through the opening Carrie had made to get in. There was a muffled crack and she cried out in pain, her wrist. Her headache returned something fierce and she couldn't make the effort to get up. The Scepter's humming was nearby at least but everything was blurring together. She barely noticed the people gathering around her.

Loki was. . . displeased with the damage the girl looked to have suffered. There were bruises on her neck and a bloody gash on her forehead along with several cuts. One of her wrists appeared to have suffered damage as well. He would need to ensure the girl was seen by a healer before he delivered her. Thanos would likely to want her with minimal damage.

The plan was working perfectly at least.

Thor had always been easy to predict – sending one of the men to him with a story of Loki fighting the Hulk was simple and casting an illusion on Carrietta to take on his appearance even simpler.

Alas, he had overestimated her durability. Mortals were so fragile.

Even so, she was alive and the mortals under his command were prepping her for the journey. He cast a minor spell to make them uninteresting and indistinguishable to decrease any delays and sent them off.

He returned to his former cell, Scepter in hand. Once Thor was humbled, everyone would be in place for the final confrontation.

(Loki didn't want to stay near the energy the girl had unleashed. He had received a few images as a backlash effect of the shared memories and what he saw sicken him.) The mortals of Midgard would soon have the king they deserved.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Sincerely,

PagesInTheLibrary

P.S - Hope you all enjoyed this. I wanted to give Carrie a chance to shine without making her too overpowered. She's still dealing with lingering weakness from stalling Loki's arrival on Earth and the Scepter (Mind Stone) gave her the boost she needed to think clearly. That being said, Carrie is not ready to fight the Hulk head on and she's smart enough to know this, hence her battle plan is basically: run for my life, keep him away from other people, and try to calm him down. If she wasn't able to do that last bit, Carrie was going try her best to keep damage to the Helicarrier at a minimum and the Hulk away from any SHIELD personnel. All of this with the firm belief she might not survive.

In my fic Carrie currently has the raw mental power to be on par with Professor X, as far as psychic powers go, she'll be the strongest bar Jean Grey's Phoenix Force (though not defenseless against it, of the younger telepath generations. Much like M'gann having more power than her uncle J'onn, though initially lacking the skill and control (Young Justice). Carrie is only going to get stronger from here on out, but her past and trauma will always interfere with her tapping into her full potential to some degree.

All this said, while Carrie's raw mental power will be very impressive it isn't going to be her specialty. She'll be decent in healing minds, creating mind links, and all that stuff - but much of her potential is wrapped up in one specific ability that is indirectly the cause of her excessive power in the first place. That ability will be revealed later.

Also, Loki wasn't expecting Carrie to take on the Hulk, so he did some quick thinking and manipulated his brother into solving the problem for him. He wanted to take her when no one was looking and let SHIELD assume he would only be interested in reclaiming the Scepter. This trick also kept the heavy hitter occupied as a plus. By the time anyone realizes he came for Carrie too, he'll be gone.