"He really grows on you, doesn't he?"
Bruce's sarcastic statement actually got a laugh out of me. Following by me wincing in pain as Max hit a spot that wasn't quite covered with the local anesthetic while he was stitching my shoulder.
"Sorry," Max murmured, wincing as well. He moved to grab some more lidocaine to numb the area better.
The flight back to the Helicarrier had been uneventful. Loki had been sulky and silent as Thor had thrown him back in the Quinjet. It had been a literal throw too. It had been amusing to see Loki sprawling out over the Quinjet floor. That amusement had kept me going on the seven hour flight back. By the time we'd gotten back to the Helicarrier, Evans had stopped three arguments between Tony and Steve.
Loki had been detained by Bravo team as soon as we arrived and marched down to the detention level. He and Fury had just had an interesting discussion about ants and boots. Loki had then been an asshole. As expected.
All of us, minus Tony, was sitting in the bridge, listening to the conversation between Fury and Loki.
I exchanged a glance with Natasha. The entire thing just wasn't sitting well. Something felt very off. Loki had surrendered to Steve without too much of a fight.
"Loki's gonna drag this out," Steve said matter of factly. He didn't look perturbed by the current developments. "So, Thor, what's his play?"
We all faced the literal god standing off to the side. Thor was even more handsome than I had remembered. He hadn't said much on the flight back. Only answering questions when asked and to the point.
"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any world known," Thor serious tone did nothing to ease the blow of his words as he turned to face us. "He means to lead them against your people. They will win him, in return, I suspect for the Tesseract."
That fucking Tesseract. It caused a myriad of problems in World War 2 for Steve. Now it was causing all of us the world of pain. There was an actual army from outer space waiting for us.
A fucking space army. Of aliens.
"An army." Steve's disbelief echoed my own thoughts. "From outer space?"
My headache was back and I was feeling more exhausted than ever. I wanted to put my head on the table and fall asleep. Maybe when I woke up this nightmare would be over.
"So, he's building another portal," Bruce's steady voice made me look over to him. He wasn't sitting down. He'd taken his glasses off, fiddling with the arms on them. "That's what he needs Eric Selvig for."
That made sense. I'm glad someone had their thinking caps on. Not that it was much comfort that we had an army of aliens on the doorstep. I was still stuck on the fact there were alien's waiting to invade.
"Selvig?" Thor turned to Bruce for clarification.
I winced as Max injected me with more lidocaine. I was going to explain to Bruce that Thor knew Selvig but Bruce was already speaking.
"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce started to explain.
"He's a friend," Thor cut Bruce off. He looked very concerned at this development.
"Loki has them under some kind of spell," Natasha spoke up for the first time. "Along with two of our own."
Natasha's voice caught on the word two. I doubted anyone else would notice it. I did though and I felt my own throat close. Clint was so close to me for a few seconds and then he was gone. There was nothing from Jared. Not that I'd had any time to close my eyes. Steve speaking had my attention turned back to this conversation.
"I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from there."
Steve had a very good point. Why was Loki here? Of all places.
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce started with a dismissive tone. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him."
I didn't pick Bruce to be a funny guy. He was winning with his wise crack jokes though. That got another snort of amusement from me. Even Max laughed as he was tying off the last neat stitch in my shoulder.
"Have care how you speak," Thor's tone turned hard.
I raised an eyebrow. This could an argument brewing.
"Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard and he is my brother."
Thor's protective tone and brotherly love shone through. I could understand where he was coming from. Jared hadn't gone on a homicidal rampage and there were days I still felt like strangling him for Pripyat. I'd do anything to protect him.
"He killed eighty people in two days."
Natasha dust dry tone made me cringe. This was either going to start a punch up or turn into a huge argument.
"He's adopted."
And just like sibling love, Thor throws his brother under a bus. It made me smile a little. Next to me, Natasha let out a barely contained snort of amusement.
"I think it's about the mechanics," Bruce steered the conversation back on track. "Iridium. What do they need the Iridium for?"
I hadn't had time to read anything about the finer points of this. I knew Steve had gotten a mission briefing but science wasn't his strong point. I don't think Natasha had seen much of it either.
"It's a stabilizing agent."
I craned my head around to see where Tony was. He was coming through the side entrance, Coulson tailing behind him. He said something to Coulson for the rest of us to hear.
"Means the portal won't collapse in on itself like it did at SHIELD."
As Tony sauntered in, he walked past us mere mortals at the table and straight to Thor.
"No hard feelings, Point Break. You got a mean swing."
The smack on Thor's arm was nothing less than condescending. I thought Tony was a dead man the way Thor glared at him as Tony kept walking. As he walked past Hill, she rolled her eyes as he strode past her.
"Also, means the portal can open as wide and as long as Loki wants."
I'd never wanted a drink more in my life than right now. So that was the plan. Loki was going to bring his army through a magic portal. This day was not going well.
Tony had come to stand at the main controls, where Fury usually stood.
"Kari." Max's quiet voice turned my attention back to him. He tapped my shoulder wound which he had already dressed while everything else was going on. "Come see me for drugs after all of this."
"Thank you," I said under my voice so I wouldn't interrupt whatever Tony was saying to everyone on the bridge. I still missed it but judging by the unimpressed looks he was getting, he was being Tony.
"That man is playing Galaga!" Tony pointed to one of the navigational agents. "Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did."
Tony was looking down at Fury's control panel. I hadn't seen Fury since we had come onboard. No doubt, Fury was busy doing whatever it was that Fury did. Tony covered one eye and turned around.
Hill was standing off to the side, arms crossed and looking really unimpressed.
"How does Fury even see these?" Tony asked, twirling around with his hand over his eye.
Natasha made a sound of annoyance at Tony's antics. That man couldn't be serious for more than a minute. Unless he was talking to Steve, then he seemed to be able to argue about anything.
"He turns," Hill's unimpressed attitude came through clearly in her tone.
"Sounds exhausting." Tony started fiddling with the screens.
I wondered how long it would take before someone came and forcibly removed Tony from the SHIELD computers. There was things on the bridge that I'm sure were above my clearance. Let alone a civilian contractor.
"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton and Lyngley will have no problems getting their hands on. Agent Lyngley of the male variety seems like the resourceful type."
That was the understatement of the century. We'd often discussed that Jared's powers had made him the perfect candidate to be a world class thief. If he wasn't interested in SHIELD, he could have been a huge pain in the ass for them.
"Only major component he needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to." Tony turned around and snapped his fingers in something that looked like a compulsive habit. "Kick start the cube."
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked snarkily, her arms crossed and looking ready to beat Tony. I knew how she felt.
"Last night."
Tony said it so matter of factly, I actually nearly believed him. He was a genius.
"The packet?" Tony turned to look at the rest of us. "Selvig's notes? The extraction theory papers."
I shrugged as Tony looked at me. He genuinely looked flabbergasted that I didn't read them.
"Am I the only one who did the reading?"
"Does Loki need any particular power source?" Steve cut in before Tony could start on a rant.
Looking over at Steve, he looked just as lost at this conversation as I was feeling. Thor looked like he wasn't paying attention to the conversation. Natasha looked annoyed, like this was wasting her time.
"He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coulumb barrier," Bruce's tone was thoughtful.
I glanced over my shoulder to him. Bruce had his glasses off still, pacing back and forth at the chair he was meant to be sitting in.
"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony interjected, as he began to walk back towards the table.
At least I had a brief grasp of what they were talking about. Quantum tunneling was a quantum mechanic phenomenon where sub atomic particles passed through a barrier.
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Bruce sounded like a light bulb had gone off.
I felt like I was back in high school, staring blankly at my terrible grade 9 physics teacher and having to go home to Dad to get him to explain it properly. All I knew about this was it had something to do with the Coulomb barrier and nuclear astrophysics. Way beyond my understanding and pay grade.
"Finally." Tony gestured at Bruce as he walked towards him. "Someone who speaks English."
"Is that what just happened?" Steve said softly, but loud enough for the rest of us to hear.
Whatever Tony was saying to Bruce, I tuned out as my attention was pulled to another screen. There was a photo of Jared on the side of it and it was scanning for facial recognition. It had pulled a 1% match from a very grainy surveillance photo. The photo was a basic outline of a jaw, no other distinguishing features because a hat was pulled down over the face and angled away from the camera. It was done very purposely. I'd seen Jared do it without even thinking about it. Natasha and Clint both did it too. Always aware of exactly where the cameras were and making sure they weren't able to be seen properly. Being such a low match, the agent at the computer dismissed it and moved onto the next one.
"Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube." Fury's deep voice made me jump. He came into my line of vision, striding onto the bridge. "I was hoping you might join him."
I rubbed my face tiredly. I really had to focus on the job at hand. I caught Coulson looking at me, concern all over his face. I gave him a wavering smile, which probably did nothing to ease his concern.
"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon," Steve put in.
Magical. There wasn't a time too long ago where I would have scoffed at the use of that word. Now I was dealing with aliens and a glowing cube that no one had any idea of how it worked.
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube," Fury said as he stood over the table. "And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn three of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
Jared would never believe me if I told him Fury said that about him. Neither would Clint. Talk about high praise.
"Monkeys?" Thor turned to face the table. "I do not understand…"
"I do!" Steve cut any other question Thor may have had off.
The entire room went silent at Steve's very loud declaration. He looked embarrassed to have the attention solely on him.
"I understood that reference," Steve finished, his voice lowering to a more acceptable level as he realized his tone.
"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony saved Steve from any further scrutinization, turning to Bruce.
"This way, Sir." Bruce gestured behind him. The pair started to walk off before anyone could stop them or say anything else.
Part of me dreaded those two together. The whole Helicarrier could be in space before anyone knew they were playing with it.
"Agent Lyngley, in my office please."
Ah, fuck. Despite the please, Fury did not sound happy at all. I really didn't want to go to his office. I actually had no idea where it was. Fury was already striding away, so I did the smart thing and quickly followed him. Coulson fell into step behind me. Hill was only a step behind him.
I was in such deep shit. Everyone was coming to kick my ass.
The silent march to Fury's office made my stomach turn in knots. It also reminded me that I hadn't eaten yet and nausea began to make itself known. I swallowed it back, rubbing my eyes.
Fury's office wasn't far from the bridge. It didn't give me any time to think of an excuse for whatever trouble I was in. I had a fair idea of what it was, especially with Coulson right behind me.
"Sit."
I instantly sat my ass down in the chair across from Fury's desk. Coulson sank into the chair next to me. Hill took her place behind Fury.
"You aren't in trouble," Coulson said so low, I barely heard him.
That was no reassurance to me. Going into Fury's office was never for a casual chat.
"Agent Lyngley," Fury addressed me as he sat down in his chair. "You've been having a few bad days."
"Understatement of the year," I said tiredly.
"Do you want to explain this to me?" Fury ignored my comment and turned to face the large screen behind him. A second later, the surveillance of me and Clint, outside the museum came up.
Right as Clint moved in and kissed me.
So much for not being in trouble. I was in the deepest shit I'd ever been in.
"That is Agent Barton kissing me," I said as level as I could manage. I found a spot behind Fury and kept my eyes firmly fixed on it.
"Really?" Fury's dead panned tone made me look back at him. He looked very unimpressed right now. "And how long has Agent Barton been kissing you?"
"A bit over a month," I forced my tone to stay level.
The room was silent for far too long. At least it felt that way. It could have only been a few seconds but it felt like an eternity.
"And who knows?" Fury asked, breaking the silence first.
Behind him, a movement from Hill made me glance in her direction. She had moved to cover her mouth and cleared her throat. I'm glad someone thought this was funny. She was the last person I expected though.
"Natasha. Agent Evans." I stopped for a second and glanced at Coulson. He gave me a small nod. "Coulson knows too. Though in my defense, Barton blabbed on that one and he started all of this."
Fury stared at me like I'd gone mad. I suppose I had. Sleeping with Clint was not one of my finest decisions. No matter how much I enjoyed it, I knew it was very, very stupid of us.
"I'm about to order you to do something that is going to make you very uncomfortable." Fury lent back in his chair. His one good eye never left me. "And if it plays right, it's going to make your secret very public."
Of course, this was an order. I didn't get a say in it.
"I don't really have a choice then, do I?"
I blamed my tiredness on how snappy my response came out.
"No. You don't."
At least Fury was brutally honest.
"We need to get an idea on what the hell Barton and Jared are doing," Fury continued, his tone level. "You're not going to be able to get that information out of Loki."
This time the brutal honestly stung. Even though I knew it was true.
"What I need you to do, is think Loki has won an argument between the two of you. You need to go in there, raging and spitting fire."
"Not my power," I said under my breath. I'm sure Fury heard me but he ignored it.
"You need to lose control at him." Fury lent forward in his chair, elbows resting on the desk. "Make a huge scene and I'm going to have Evans and Coulson drag you out of there. And you have to make it forcible."
"Sir, with all due respect," I began, tiredly. Fury was asking the wrong twin here. I had no acting skills. I couldn't pull this off.
"No, no with all due respect," Fury cut me off. "This has to be done and this is an order Agent Lyngley. You will go in there, spitting mad and make Loki think he's on top of his situation."
I slid down in my chair, crossing my arms.
"And then when you're done, I'm sending Agent Romanoff in. You need to give her something though, otherwise, this isn't going to work. I'm aware of her relationship with Jared."
Nothing was being kept secret anymore. At least they wouldn't get in the shit like me and Clint.
"And when this is all over, we will discuss the situation between you and Barton." Fury's tone left no room for arguments.
"It's just a warm body on a cold night," I said automatically. I'd be repeating that a lot lately. "Nothing serious at all, Sir. There's nothing to discuss."
The way Fury was looking at me, I felt as if he could see straight through me. That lie I kept telling people and myself was starting to feel stretched thin.
"It better stay that way," Fury said firmly. "I am not breaking up the best team I had ever had, simply because Barton couldn't keep his dick in his pants. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Sir," I said instantly.
"Then get out of my office and go do your job."
I didn't have to be told twice. I was up out of my chair and out of Fury's office in record time. I knew this wasn't over by a long shot. For the moment I was happy to be out of the firing line. I wasn't alone in my hasty departure. Coulson was right with me.
I turned to ask Coulson for a few moments alone. Instead, I felt my lower lip tremble. I was exhausted and I really didn't want to do this. What's more, I hadn't even apologized to Coulson yet for all of this mess me and Clint were causing.
"This way." Coulson put a firm hand on my back and steered me away from prying eyes. As soon as we were in the corridor, he pulled me into a hug. "I got you."
I hugged him back fiercely. The lump in my throat seemed to abate for the moment.
"You don't need to go do this right away," Coulson said quietly. "Go, have a bite to eat. Maybe call your Mum? We moved her and your Dad apart as well. Your Dad is here trying to track Jared."
That was news to me. As I let go of Coulson, I rubbed the threatening tears away.
"I'll go see Dad then," my voice was still unsteady. "Coulson, I am so…"
"Don't." Coulson held a hand up, cutting me off. "Don't apologize for this just yet. I need your full focus to be on getting Clint and Jared back. Okay?"
"Okay." I easily conceded. The longer I could put off that clusterfuck, the better.
"Besides, the look on Clint's face was hilarious when he told me," Coulson said lightly. "I wish I'd had my phone to take a photo of it."
That got a shaky laugh out of me. I couldn't begin to imagine how that had all gone down.
"Go see you Dad." Coulson gave me a genuine smile. "Get something to eat. I'm going to make sure Natasha has had some sleep and something to eat."
"Okay," I said again, my own smile shaky.
The fall out with whatever this was between me and Clint was going to be bad. I was glad Coulson was trying to shield me from the worst of it for as long as possible.
"Your Dad is in Lab 5," Coulson said as he gave me a small nudge in the direction of the elevators. "He'll be happy to see you. Don't forget to eat."
I took the hint and left. I went to the mess first, grabbing from the ready to go hot cabinet. Today was burgers and fries. They were fresh, making the day feel a little brighter. In general, the mess food was always really good. But when you had to grab and go, fresh was always the best thing ever.
Making my way up to the labs, I picked at my fries and tried to think of how the fuck I was going to do what Fury wanted me to do. This wasn't my strong suit. If Fury had told me to take out Loki from a mile and a half away, no problem. Pretending to be angry and make a scene? Not my style.
The elevator opened and Lab 5 was one of the closer ones. I had to juggle to scan my ID to open the door. When I did, I took a step back in surprise.
Dad's self replication wasn't a surprise. But seeing at least 10 replications of him, all working at a frantic pace that was almost a blur, wasn't normal.
"Dad?" I called out tentatively.
"Fuck."
The crash and expletive that followed, made all the replicas disappear. Dad was staring at a computer screen in the middle of the room. He turned around, wide eyed with shock. He had a tablet in his hand. Once I got a better look, I saw it wasn't one computer on the table. It was three, all running various simulations.
"Hi," I said with a wobbling smile. "I brought some food."
Dad dropped the iPad on the table and came over to me. Before I could react he had me wrapped up in a crushing hug. I was squished up against his chest, trying not to be crushed between Dad and the burgers.
"I'm trying to work out the frequency or some sort of chemical trail of Jared when he teleports." Dad let me go as quickly as he had crushed me. "And it's not fucking working."
Dad turned around and banged his fist on the table in frustration. He bent over and put his head in his hands, taking in a deep breath.
I put down the burger next to Dad, not too subtly pushing it close to him. I picked up the iPad and looked at what he was working on. The complicated equations made my head spin.
"You said to me once it was like an Einstein-Rosen Bridge," I said tactfully. I was of no help to Dad at all. I had no idea what I was looking at.
"It is," Dad said with a heavy sigh. "But it doesn't have the exact characteristics of one, and Einstein-Rosen bridges only have theoretically applied principles. There's nothing concrete that you can pint points it on. It's not like tracing the Tesseract which you can narrow down to a specific radiation signal."
"Well, Tony is here with Dr Bruce Banner doing that, maybe they can have a look?" I suggested gently. "You love arguing with Tony."
Dad looked back at me. He looked even more exhausted than I felt.
"And if Coulson is bugging me to eat, I'm bugging you to eat." I nudged the burger again. "Neither of us are any help to Jared if we fall over."
Dad scrubbed a hand over his face before giving me a tired smile.
"And when was the last time you ate and slept?" Dad asked in a tone that was completely judgemental.
"Probably the same time you and Mom did after you heard the news."
Dad chuckled briefly at my reply. No doubt I'd hit the mark there. Still, he shifted the burger over to him and started to pick at his tray of fries.
During the silence I took another look at the iPad. The numbers and equations were all blurred together with my headache. The clock on the top righthand corner had the seconds ticking by. It was a horrible reminder of that I was on borrowed time right now. While the short conversation with Dad had kept my mind away from what Fury wanted me to do, I knew there was no escaping it.
"Dad?" I said softly to get his attention.
"Yeah, Kars?" He looked back up at me with a half smile.
Even my lips tugged up on the corner of my mouth hearing my childhood nickname from Dad.
"I have to do something and it's probably going to end up messy." I hesitated on the next part. "But I'd prefer you to hear it from me."
Dad stood there patiently, waiting for me to spit it out. There was no easy way to tell anyone. Though it was getting a lot less horrifying the more people I had to tell.
"I'm sleeping with Clint," I finally managed to get the words to come out. "And Jared is sleeping with Natasha."
I felt like I had to add that part as well. It might have gotten me out of trouble.
Unlucky for me, Dad's reaction was one of complete surprise. He inhaled a fry and choked on it for a brief moment.
"What the fuck, Kari?"
And unlike everyone else, Dad looked really angry.
"What the fuck were you and Clint thinking?" Dad continued, looking furious.
"Not much thinking was going on," I muttered, feeling like a scolded child. "Believe me, we know it's stupid. I know this is a horrible time to bring it up but Fury wants me to go stir Loki up. It's going to come up. I'd prefer you hear it from me than gossip getting spread like wildfire. You know how it is. Why aren't you mad about Jared and Natasha?"
I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my last sentence. If Dad was going to judge me, I was going to throw Jared under the bus here too. Brainwashed or not. He and Natasha had fucked up too.
"Because Jared and Natasha aren't on the same STRIKE Team," Dad snapped at me. "Something you've worked so hard for. Now you're going to throw everything away for a good set of abs and epic biceps? I thought better of you, Kari."
"Wow." I couldn't think of anything else to say. "Just fucking wow. Thanks Dad. Your support is overwhelming."
I snatched up the iPad and stormed out of the room. Dad called after me but I was too angry to care. I knew it was bound to happen sooner rather than later. There were going to be some very angry reactions from people. I didn't expect Dad to be one of them. I made it back to the elevator before Dad caught up.
"Kari," Dad tried again, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't." I brushed him off "I have a job to do."
The elevator opened a second later. Dad didn't follow me so I forcibly hit the close button without turning around. It closed without another word.
I swallowed back my angry tears. They wouldn't help me now. Nothing was really going to help now. My feelings weren't a concern with everything that had to come now. I took the elevator up to the next level. I was going to throw the iPad at Tony and Bruce. Maybe they'd have more luck.
As I stepped out of the elevator, Steve came storming down the aisle. His jaw set and he looked furious. I stepped aside so he didn't barrel me out of the way. Steve had to do a double take. When he realized who it was, he stopped.
"Sorry," Steve's apology sounded like it came out as a second thought. "I have to go check on something, sorry."
The double apology made me stare at the retreating Doritos shoulder to ass ratio. Steve was a worse liar than me. What the hell had just gone on? He'd come from the same direction as Tony and Bruce's lab.
I didn't have time or the energy to soothe over the over inflated male egos going around right now. I had to drop this iPad off and keep the bubbling anger going. Otherwise all the shit with Loki wasn't going to work. I walked into the lab where Bruce and Tony were. The partners in crime both looked up at me with an equally annoyed expression until they realize who it was.
"Dad is trying to track Jared's teleporting but he can't find the right tracking formula for it." I threw the iPad down on the nearest bench. "Can someone look at it? It needs a fresh set of eyes."
"Sure." Tony surprised me by moving over and grabbing the iPad. "I'll give it a twirl. Where is he?"
"Lab 5." I pointed down. "One floor down."
"On it." Tony gave me a scrutinizing look before glancing down at the tablet in his hands. "Who's pissed you off?"
"No one." Saying it through gritted teeth probably help the matter.
"Really?" Tony pointed down at my hands.
They were clenched into fists by my side. They were covered in ice crystals. I hadn't even noticed I was doing it.
Bruce's attention was on me. It wasn't a look of disgust but a curious look.
"Born with it. All my family are Enhanced," I explained before the question was asked. "My Dad self replicates so if you go up with Tony, except to have them all buzzing around like a mad ants nest."
At least Dad could compartmentalize. I had no doubts he would have gone straight back to work as soon as I left. He could block every outside influence out when he was working on something. It was something I envied him for.
"I've got other shit to do," I said briskly. "Have fun."
Tony was staring at me as I turned on my heel. I could feel his gaze boring into my back as I stormed out. I had to do this now before I lost my nerve and while I was still angry. There was a logical part of my mind, right at the back, that knew Dad had every right to be mad. If I listened to that voice right now, I wouldn't be able to do my job.
Getting down to the detention level was disturbingly easy. I wasn't actually sure I'd have the clearance to be down here with Loki. I'm sure someone was manipulating exactly what I needed right now. Still, I had to make this look genuine. Before getting to the first guard post, I went invisible.
It was two of the Bravo boys standing guard. Both of them looked incredibly bored and they were talking in low tones about seeing a baseball game when we got back. I slipped past them easily, although I wasn't being exceptionally quiet. The same went past the other guards along the way.
My access card slid the door to Loki's cell open with a loud beep. The corridor was deserted and it sounded extremely loud. Loki was in his glass cell, pacing back and forth. As the sound of the door opening, he looked over in my general direction.
"You aren't fooling anyone. Your brother told me all about our clever little trick," Loki's voice was an unimpressed drawl.
I let go of my invisibility, stalking towards the cage. Seeing Loki's smirking face was enough to feel my rage build again. Turns out I didn't need to have an argument with my Dad to get pissed off.
"Where the fuck is my brother?" I said through gritted teeth.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Loki's smirk and voice was infuriating.
I made it to the glass cage, slamming my hands against the glass. Ice formed underneath my hands and spread out across the glass easily. The room in the temperature dropped dramatically and my breath misted in front of me.
"Feisty." Loki came face to face with me. "Haven't I heard all about you?"
This was far too easy. I felt like I was walking into a trap.
"And hasn't your brother told us all about you," I bit back. "Especially the adopted part. He certainly didn't want to be related to you."
Loki snarled at me and slammed his fist against the wall. That was a better reaction than I expected. It still scared the shit out of me. I took a stumbling step back, nearly tripping over my own feet. My only reassurance was that it put that infuriating smirk back on Loki's face.
"You know, I expected you to be the rational one," Loki said in amused tone, taking a step back. "You would come in here, willing to do anything to get your brother back. I take it your other way from last time didn't work? Having all these people with these extraordinary gifts at their disposal must be awfully convenient."
I swallowed back the fear that came creeping up with that statement. Loki knew about our old school and the people in it. If he could do what he did to Jared and Clint to the Professor, or any of my teachers. The world would burn.
"Your brother's is terribly wasted." Loki took another step back. "Working for these liars and killers?"
That was an interesting choice of words. It's not something Clint or Jared would have said. I pushed it aside for the moment.
"And working for you is so much better?" I snapped back. "I'm not going to ask again, where is my brother?"
Loki's amusement was clear on his face as he chuckled.
"Doing work he was born to do." Loki wasn't giving anything away. "Don't worry, he'll be here for you soon enough."
I gave Loki a foul look, stalking back towards the cage. I was so stuck now. Loki wasn't giving me anything that could be useful.
"And so will your Agent Barton."
Fucking boom. Mic drop. Just what I needed. Maybe being angry wasn't going to work with Loki. I wasn't selling the anger anyway. Loki slamming his fists against the cage had drained most of that out of me.
"He is most keen to, what was it he said?" Loki made like he was trying to think. "Take back what was his."
Loki looked directly at the cameras as he said it. As he did, I knew the secret was out. Whoever was monitoring the security feed just got the biggest piece of SHIELD gossip for the decade.
"What an interesting little game you two are playing," Loki's smirk was back and his gaze shifted back to me. "How would he feel if he knew you were here for your brother's life and not his?"
"He's a big boy, he'll get over it." I lifted my chin in defiance, though Loki's words felt like a punch in the gut. I would never forget the conversation I had with Natasha when I first joined about choosing Clint over anyone else. As brave as my words sounded, I wasn't feeling them.
Loki said nothing. He simply stood there, looking at me with a pleased smirk on his face.
It felt like time was running out. I had to cause a scene and actually feel like I'd gotten somewhere with my orders. A big red button out of the corner of my eye got my attention.
"You know, I appreciate Fury's humor in all of this," I said casually as I turned around and walked to the control panel. "It makes me think of how durable you guys really are. I don't buy the whole god thing."
The amusement was back on Loki's face. He wasn't buying my bluff at all.
"And you are really fucking pissing me off." At least that wasn't a lie.
I flipped the safety box on the lid up. The room instantly filled with icy wind as the doors below the glass prison opened. Loki didn't even twitch.
"Go on," Loki's voice was full of temptation. "You know you want to."
I really, really did want to. And that was the scary thing. I'd never wanted to kill someone like I had right now. The big red button was calling to me like a siren song. Nothing else in the world mattered right now except my decision to do this.
"Flip the switch and it all ends," Loki's voice was so calm. "But you'll never find your brother. Or Barton."
Loki's words were like a bucket of ice water being dumped over me. It didn't stop my feeling of really wanting to drop him 30,000 feet down in a steel box though. My hand hovered above the button.
It would be so easy. Just hit it and walk away. There would be no aftermath for me to see. Chances are the cage would fall into the ocean, never to be recovered. It would solve a lot of problems.
The issue was, it would also create a lot of problems. No one knew how to break the control Loki had over the people he had turned. If SHIELD couldn't find Jared and Clint now, the chances of ever finding them would grow slimmer every day. I had no doubt Loki was smart enough to have back up plans for his back up plan. Whatever his game was would still happen with or without him. There was still the problem of his literal alien army waiting to come and attack us. A fucking space army with Jared and Clint at the head of it would be a disaster for the rest of us.
Every thought of this disaster bombarded my already aching head. I had no answers. All I knew is that I couldn't kill Loki. I really, really wanted to punch him in the face though.
Punching him in the face I could probably get away with. My hand went from hovering above the button to going for the controls to unlock his door.
Before I could hit the first button to unlock the door, Coulson and Evans burst into the room. The latter forcibly grabbed me, yanking me away from the control panel.
As requested, I put up a fight. At least I didn't have to fake this too much. The anger was real at being interrupted. I swung around and landed a punch on Evans jaw. He was so surprised it was almost comical. My own surprise was the death of me though. Evans reacted a lot quicker than I reacted and tackled me to the ground.
I hit the metal floor hard and on my injured shoulder. I was spitting curses at Evans in Russian because I was so surprised and the flaring pain wasn't doing anything to improve my mood. Coulson yanked me to my feet a second later. He wasn't being gentle about it either.
"Get the fuck out," Coulson yelled at me, shoving me roughly in the direction of the door. It gave me a small opening that I don't think was intentional.
I side stepped around Evans and made a beeline for the cell. I had my hands iced over and smashed them against the glass. It was very satisfying to see the ice quickly take over. I could have easily shattered the entire thing in another few seconds. Even Loki looked surprised at how quickly it was happening.
My chance never came. Two sets of arms yanked me back away from the glass prison. Coulson and Evans physically lifted me off the ground, dragging me backward.
"Bye." Loki gave me a casual wave. "It was lovely chatting with you."
His sarcasm might have been funny in any other situation. If my arms weren't being yanked out of their sockets, my facade my have fallen apart. As it was, I was still too angry to do anything except spit a nasty curse at Loki in Icelandic.
Evans and Coulson dragged me out of the room in less than two seconds. The door slid shut after them and we were alone in the corridor.
Both of them instantly dropped my arms. I was shaking so hard from the adrenaline dump, my legs were feeling like jelly. For a moment, I felt like they were going to buckle from underneath me.
"Easy." Coulson was there right away. "Come on, sit. You're okay."
I slid to the floor at Coulson's request. I felt like I couldn't breathe as I sat there visibly shaking. Coulson and Evans both knelt down to my height, Evans putting a comforting hand on my non injured shoulder.
"Breath," Coulson said calmly. "In and out. It's just adrenaline. You know what it's like."
I did as I was told. Breath in. Breath out. In and out. That's all I had to do. The corridor was uncomfortably cold as I got myself back under control. The frigid temperature didn't help in easing my uncontrollable shaking.
"You did an amazing job," Evans said, trying to put me back at ease. "And thank you for not punching me at full strength. My head hurts enough without you breaking my jaw too."
That got a shaky laugh from me. I reached up to wipe my runny nose, only to nearly freeze it from the ice crystals still hanging off my hand. I pulled an annoyed face as I shook them off.
I didn't feel like I'd done a good job. I was told to be angry and the only time I managed that was when I got in there and when Evans pulled me away from the control panel. I felt like a massive failure. My head was pounding again and I was sure I'd busted a stitch in my shoulder. Glancing down at it confirmed that I was bleeding again. The dressing over it was soaked through.
"Let's go get Max to patch that up," Coulson's calm voice was doing wonders to soothe my frazzled nerves. "Did you get that bite to eat?"
I'd left my burger on the bench in Dad's lab. The few fries I'd shoveled down in the elevator were barely enough to qualify as food. Not in Coulson's eyes anyway.
"I'll go get food," Evans offered, taking my silence as a No. "And meet you back in medical."
There was no point in arguing. I knew my shoulder needed to be re-stitched and I could really go for the promised painkillers. I held my hand out so someone could help me to my feet.
Evans took my hand and hauled me back on my feet. My legs still felt like jelly but they managed to hold. I slumped against the wall to give myself a few moments before I attempted to walk. Evans left without another word and it was just me and Coulson standing in the corridor.
"He's a smug bastard isn't he?" Coulson asked with his own smile.
That got another small laugh from me. My racing heart was finally starting to slow down. I wish I could have said to same for the pounding in my head.
"I hope I gave Natasha enough to get what we need out of him," I said, my voice still shaky.
"You did." Coulson's firm answer gave me a shred of hope back. "I'm sorry that it cost you something very personal."
"It's okay." It really wasn't. Judging by the look Coulson gave me, he didn't believe me anyway. "I was bound to come out sooner or later."
Coulson's look of sympathy made me wonder what he really thought about this whole thing going on between me and Clint. He hadn't yelled. He'd barely touched the subject. He knew Clint better than anyone else on the planet though. The fact he knew and he still brought me to PEGASUS was an interesting piece of the puzzle. It wasn't something I was going to be able to solve any time soon.
"Let's get you the medical." Coulson tactfully changed the subject. "I'll tell Max it was my fault you busted your new stitches in record time for STRIKE Team Delta."
That got another small laugh out of me. My hands were warm again as I wiped my nose a second time. I pushed off the wall and followed Coulson back to medical.
True to his word, Coulson took the blame. For once it was Coulson having to hear Max's angry tirade about STRIKE personal never following medical orders. Coulson stood there with a patient smile on his face during Max's rant. At least this time Max loaded me up with painkillers and more lidocaine that necessary. I'm sure Coulson had heard the rant a million times before. It took Max a while to get me stitched up because he'd stop to give Coulson a piece of his mind and forget what he was doing. As good as a doctor as Max was, he really couldn't do two things at once. Max had just finished my last stitch as Sam came into the room.
"Evans said he needs you on the bridge," Sam said to Coulson before turning to me. He held up a styrofoam burger container. "I ate your fries but I kept the burger for you."
I smiled and took the offered burger from Sam. Trust Sam to be the smart ass. I knew he was only doing it to get a reaction out of me. I appreciated the thought.
"Eat." Coulson ordered, though he already looked distracted. "Come find me afterward."
As Coulson left, Sam came and plonked down on the bed next to me.
"I don't need a baby sitter," I said before taking a bite of the burger. My stomach was still wound into knots after my encounter with Loki. It was hard to chew through the mouthful of bread and meat. And even harder to swallow.
"I know," Sam said simply. "I heard you might need a friend though."
I really did need one of those right now. Natasha would be busy and I was feeling lost without Clint or Jared around. I put my head on Sam's shoulder. He tilted his head to touch mine and gave my knee a comforting pat.
"For the record, it was Andy who first said wouldn't it be hilarious if you and Barton were fucking. Not me. I said it would be funny if that was why Barton left us in a hurry that night."
News sure did spread fast. I wasn't at all surprised. Though Sam's amused tone was a welcome relief from getting told off. Sam's reaction was a huge relief as well. If anyone had the right to be upset, it would be him. Seeing me move on in my life after Riley had to be painful for him.
"I hate you all," I muttered, burying my face into Sam's shoulder. "Thought if it was the night you guys were out drinking, you weren't wrong."
Sam laughed, this time slinging an arm over my shoulder as he pulled me into an awkward hug. After Dad's reaction, the humor about this situation was making me feel marginally better.
"I'm going to get into a lot of trouble for this," I said quietly. "We both are."
"Well, Coulson hasn't pushed you off the flight deck yet," Sam said lightly. "I'd say there'll be some yelling. Maybe a lot of yelling."
Sam's light mood was helping a lot more than I thought it would.
"Possibly even some angry pointing. Coulson does the angry pointing really well."
I snorted with contained laughter. Sam wasn't wrong there. Coulson was the master of angry pointing.
"If all else fails, you can kick Copeland down to being a spotter and be our marksman," Sam continued. "You're way less scary than Barton and he is not a team player at all."
"I think Copeland would have a lot to say about that," I said dryly as I raised my head off Sam's shoulder.
I took another bite of my burger and the conversation went silent between us. Chewing was an effort for me and Sam didn't seem to mind the silence.
There was one thing that I'd been trying really hard not to think about. As time went by, the question was getting harder to ignore. Sam was probably the best person in the world to answer. There was no delicate way to ask the question. I was going to have to spit it out and not tap dance around it.
"Do you think Riley would be upset about this?"
It came out a lot stronger than I thought it would, although still quiet on my behalf.
Sam didn't answer right away. As I snuck a glance at him, he had the thousand mile stare on his face. I knew that look. It was one I often caught myself doing when I was caught up in my grief with Riley.
"If Riley was still alive, he might be a bit upset about it. Then again, I'm sure me and Barton would be the only men he'd go gay for. You could be their beard or something."
Sam's light answer didn't match the grief written so clearly on his face. But, he still forced a smile as he looked over at me. I couldn't stop the tears prickling in my eyes. If Riley was still alive, I'm sure my life would be a very different story right now.
"I think," Sam's voice caught. He stopped to clear his throat before he could continue. "No, I know, that Riley would want you to be happy with whoever it was that made you happy. Except for Ben. That guy was a moron. If you'd gotten serious with Ben, Riley would have dug his way out of his grave to slap some sense into you."
That got a choked laugh out of me.
"Seriously though, all Riley ever wanted was for you to be happy." Sam's smile was very wobbly as he looked at me. "If Barton makes you happy, then Riley would be happy. It would have been the same with Gareth. He'd just want you to be safe and happy."
That was the most Riley answer I'd ever hear. Sam had really hit the nail on the head. My happiness was always Riley's priority.
"Besides." Sam nudged me with his shoulder. "I'm a little bit worried that it's Barton who you're hooking up with. He was way too scary for me to be giving a shovel talk to. How am I meant to do my macho bullshit when I'm terrified of the guy?"
That got a proper laugh out of me. I reached up to wipe my eyes before the tears trickled out. I hadn't had a bad Riley moment for a while so they weren't unexpected.
"Don't worry, Nat already punched him across the face and told both of us not to fuck this up," I said. "She's way scarier than anyone else I know."
"More macho than most of us too," Sam said seriously, though he was smiling. "You're on your own if you fuck it up though. I'm not protecting you from Nat's fury."
Speaking of Natasha, it made me wonder where she was now. I really hoped she was down with Loki getting some answers out of him.
The medical wing had plenty of windows to look out of. It was on the starboard side of the ship and complete with its own operating suite. It was set up better than some trauma hospitals. There wasn't much to see out of the windows except that the sky was turning pink with a hint of dawn appearing. I'd been up for so long I'd lost track of what time and day it was. I'd barely noticed it was night time when we'd landed. I'd been too focused on Loki. The hours had flown by. For the first time since this had all blown up, I had nowhere to be.
"Am I keeping you from anything?" I asked, hating how tentative my voice came out. As much as I hated it, I really didn't want to be alone right now.
"Nope. I'm right where I need to be."
I'd place good money on that Sam volunteered to be the one to bring me food. The gesture touched me greatly.
"I wanted your opinion on something too," Sam turned to me with an almost shy expression on his face. "Without being ridiculed by the rest of the team."
Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket. While he brought up whatever it was he wanted to show me on the screen, I forced myself to take another bite out of the burger. As Sam turned his phone, I really wished I hadn't taken the bite. I nearly choked on it in surprise.
On the screen was a picture of a stunning emerald and diamond ring.
"Do you think Rebecca will like it?"
Grief, exhaustion and aching body parts were forgotten as I shrieked in girly surprise, throwing my arms around Sam. I was laughing and nearly crying at the same time.
"She's going to love it," I managed to get out around my excitement. Sam was hugging me back hard. "It's so beautiful. You did awesome."
"Now she just has to say yes," Sam said with a nervous laugh. "I hope she says yes."
"She'll say yes." I'd never been so sure of something in my life. "And she's going to love the ring."
Sam and Rebecca were nauseatingly in love. Something I teased them for a lot.
"God, I hope so because I've never spent so much money before on a piece of jewelry," Sam said with another laugh as he pulled back from me. His gaze went to his phone and he had to goofiest smile on his face. "Andy finally found a ring too and he's proposing to Cara when we get back He's got dinner booked and everything. I've got mine planned for the week after their dinner."
"Wedding season." This was making the last shitty few days feel miles away. It was an amazing distraction. "I can't wait to go shopping for my wedding outfits."
"Yeah, on that." Sam suddenly went bright red and he rubbed his neck, looking away. "It may be a little premature but I have something to ask you. It's a bit out there so don't feel pressured to say yes."
Sam looked really nervous. What the hell could he be nervous about with me talking about wedding outfits? Maybe he and Rebecca were going to have a nudist wedding. While I wasn't opposed to the idea, there were some people in my life I didn't need to see naked. I had to stifle back my laughter at the thought. Max must have given me some pretty heavy duty painkillers for my mind to be going to places like that.
"If Rebecca says yes," Sam began.
"And she will." I couldn't keep the exasperation out of my tone for that. There was no chance Rebecca would this down.
"If," Sam started again. "She says yes. Will you be my best man?"
All thought stopped in my head. I gaped at Sam in complete surprise at what he was asking. This time, tears pricked at my eyes for another reason. If Riley had been here, there'd be no doubt of who Sam's best man would be. It was a huge symbiotic gesture for Sam to ask me. This time, I couldn't stop the few tears escaping. They were so bittersweet,
"Of course I will." I threw my arms around Sam, hugging him hard again. "I'm still wearing some amazing heels with my suit."
Sam's shaky laugh mirrored my own. I'd never missed Riley more than I did right now. But I was glad I could be there for his best friend on such a huge occasion. I let myself have a small happy cry and we hugged. I pulled back and even Sam looked misty eyed.
"Thank you." All the gratitude in the world were behind those words from Sam. "Thank you so much. You should probably go wash your face. Otherwise, Coulson will think I've been an asshole and made you cry for another reason."
I laughed as I wiped my face. Sam was right. I went all red and blotchy when I cried. A good splash of cold water on my face might make me feel a bit more human. I took another bite of my burger and handed the rest to Sam before jumping down off the bed. At least I'd managed half.
"You can have the rest. I'm going to take your advice."
Sam shoved the rest of the burger in his mouth in one go. I smiled all the way to the bathroom. At least something good was still happening in the world. Even though mine was still gone to shit.
I locked the door behind me in the bathroom and went to the sink. As predicted, my face was blotchy. I had two faint black eyes starting to appear from my misaimed headbutt. Splashing some cold water on my face made me feel slightly more awake. It didn't do much to ease my red face.
Bending down to get a good handful of water to really wet my face down, I suddenly found myself knocked off my feet. I managed to grab onto the basin before falling over completely.
The entire Helicarrier was shaking and a muffled explosion was still ringing in my ears. The lighting above me flickered off, sending the bathroom into blackness.
My pounding heart was the only thing I could hear in the darkness. I pulled myself back up to my feet, fumbling around for a light switch. The emergency lighting came on a moment later and I found myself looking in the mirror.
Jared was standing behind me. Gun raised and aimed directly at my head.
Authors Note
I can't remember the last time I got two chapters out in a month. For anyone who doesn't follow my author page on Facebook or Instagram, I had a mishap with our 3 month old foal nearly 2 weeks ago. Her mum died suddenly and the foal hadn't been handled because her mum was very foal proud and you can't get near them for the first few months. When I was trying to get a halter on the foal, she threw herself down and got my hand trapped between her and a steel feed bin. Thankfully nothing was broken but a lot of bruising and I've had a week and a half off work. I was able to get some solid writing time in, along with catching up on Uni.
This was such a huge beefy chapter I'm glad I didn't try and tack it onto the last one. I know the last chapter was a bit boring so I hope this one well and truly makes up for it.
I hope everyone is safe and well from all the insanity going on in the world right now. We're not in lockdown here but a lot of things have been cancelled. At least it gives me more time to write with no competitions for the next month at least.
Until next time.