So my computer has finally been fixed after a week of refusing to turn on, so I'm celebrating with updating, right before I head back to Belfast for a week without my computer.
Enjoy!
Chapter 7: Lost
"Disappeared?" even though the anger wasn't directed at her, Penelope flinched at Marcus' angry voice as it echoed around the bridge of the Helicarrier. "It's a bleedin' airship, she's hardly just walked off!" he shouted at the agents responsible for losing Ciara. "We have been trying to catch this girl for almost a year! And you lost her in less than five feckin' minutes!" he roared, and they flinched.
"Marcus, your accent is starting to make you hard to understand," Hill offered a smile as he stepped between the irate man and the two agents. "And berating them isn't going to find Ellis. It's like you said, while we're in the air, she has nowhere to go. We'll find her," she soothed. Marcus scowled at him, but didn't keep yelling.
"She'll avoid cameras as much as she can, so we'll look for blind spots and places with lower security," Penelope spoke up quickly, and walked over to the two men. "Keep quiet. If she hears or sees you coming, she'll get away," she warned them.
"Can't we corner her?" one asked.
"That's not a wise decision," Marcus shook his head. "She packs a punch when she chooses to fight back. Avoid confrontation," he ordered, and they nodded, rushing off. He then sighed heavily, slumping down into his chair. "Good job getting her here Tournes," he spoke again, making her jump.
"It was really thanks to Mr Stark, his arrival distracted her," she told him, blushing. Marcus just snorted, looking unimpressed at the mention of the man. He then turned his attention to the video in front of him, the feed showing Fury speaking with Loki. The man walked off, leaving Loki locked in a massive glass and metal cell.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce offered a weak smile, folding his arms as they closed off the video feed.
"Loki's going to drag this out," Steve warned, sitting at the table, still in his uniform. "So...Thor, what's his play?" he asked, looking to the massive Asgardian who was standing with his back to them, deep in thought.
"He has an army. Called the Chitari," Thor's voice was low as he gave the warning. "They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people, and they will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract," he said, turning to face them.
"An army. From outer space," Steve summed up, voice heavy with resignation.
"So he's building another portal," Bruce realised, pulling off his glasses. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," Thor's brow immediately furrowed at the name.
"Selvig?" he turned to Bruce.
"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce explained, mistaking the confusion.
"He's a friend," Thor told him, and Bruce's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"Loki has him under some sort of spell," Natasha finally spoke up. "Along with one of ours," she looked away, her concern for Barton obvious. Penelope sighed, wishing she could do more to help.
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here," Steve pointed out.
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce argued, sceptical. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him," he complained.
"Have care how you speak," Thor warned, looking offended by Bruce's words. "Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother," he told the man firmly.
"He killed 80 people in two days," Natasha told him flatly, and Thor immediately paled.
"He's adopted?" he offered weakly.
"What about the girl with him? Ciara Ellis?" Bruce asked, looking from one to another. "She's not under his spell like Selvig and Barton. Why's she helping him?" he asked, looking from one to another.
"I met Ciara Ellis when I came to Earth last year," Thor spoke up. "She spoke of only acting where she finds the most enjoyment. Unfortunately, Loki's side seems to pose much more interest to her," he sighed.
"Who is she exactly?" Steve asked. "She's a Mutant, I get that, but what's her affiliation with all this?" Marcus cleared his throat at the question, and nudged Penelope.
"O-oh, here!" she squeaked, rushing forwards and handing them folders. Flipping it open, Thor's brow furrowed even more as Bruce let out a whistle as he read through it.
"Looks like she's well used to this life," Steve commented softly as he read through it.
"And considering her family, I'm not surprised," Bruce muttered. "Honestly I'm amazed she's alive and running around, considering," he commented to himself, thinking about it.
"I do not understand," Thor flicked through the pages, detailing Ciara's background. "Who is...Bolivar Trask?" he asked the others there.
"Probably one of the biggest anti-Mutant campaigners in the world," they looked around as Tony Stark walked in. He stopped, whispering to Coulson who walked with him. "He's known to have experimented on Mutants in the past, and used the data to build his Mutant killer machines," both Steve and Thor looked horrified at his words. "But what I'm interested in is what was stolen last night when we were busy," he told them, changing the subject.
"Iridium, exactly," Bruce nodded. "What do they need it for?" he asked.
"It's a stabilising agent. It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD," Tony explained, hands in his pockets as he walked by. He looked up at Thor, who was much taller than him. "No hard feelings Point-Break, you got a mean swing," he complimented, patting Thor with the back of his hand. Thor arched an eyebrow at him. "Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants," he continued. Hill rolled her eyes and turned away from him. "Raise the mizzenmast, jib the top sails," Tony said as he stood at the front. The agents who were working, looked up at him with frowns. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did," he declared loudly.
"Being in the room with that man for even 30 seconds makes me need a drink," Marcus complained quietly. Penelope covered her mouth to hide her smile.
"How does Fury even see these?" Tony asked, gesturing to the screens where Fury normally stood by.
"He turns," Hill answered dryly.
"Sounds exhausting," Tony complained, walking over to one of the screens. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily," he continued with what he had been saying before. "The only major component he needs is a power source, of high-energy density, something to kick-start the Cube," he turned to the group, and none noticed him place a small device on the side of the computer.
"When did you become an expert in thermo-nuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked him, suspicious.
"Last night," Tony answered bluntly, making her arch an eyebrow. "The packet. Selvig's notes. The extraction theory papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?" he asked the group.
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve interrupted before Tony could continue on.
"He'd have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coolum Barrier," Bruce answered, thinking about it.
"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect," Tony continued for him.
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Bruce theorised. Tony grinned widely, approaching the man.
"Finally," he sighed with relief. "Someone who speaks English," Tony reached out a hand to Bruce, his posture much more confident than the other scientist.
"Is that what just happened?" Steve muttered, and Penelope had to agree with him.
"It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner," Tony shook his hand. "Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster," Bruce blinked rapidly at him.
"Thanks..." he muttered, unsure of how to take that.
"Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube," Fury came to Bruce's defence, arriving at the bridge. "I was hoping you might join him," he commented, but his tone made it clear that he wanted, rather than hoped.
"I'd start with that stick of his. It might be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon," Steve warned.
"I don't know about that. But it is powered by the Cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know, into his personal flying monkeys," Fury declared.
"And why it didn't work on Ellis," Natasha added. Fury gave a nod of his head.
"It didn't?" they looked to Thor as he spoke. "It should have. That sceptre does not discriminate. It will possess anyone it touches," he told them.
"Well it didn't her. And I intend on finding out why," Fury told the Asgardian. Thor nodded slowly, unhappy with the lack of answers.
"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony turned to Bruce, who nodded, and the two left the bridge, returning to the lab where Bruce had been working. As Bruce handed Penelope back the file with a smile before leaving, she looked down at it, and a determined look worked its way onto her face.
"I'm going to join the search for Ellis," she told Marcus, who arched an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat.
"Don't push yourself, Tournes. You've just gotten back from Germany. Rest up if you need to," he told her, but the young woman shook her head.
"Thank you Sir. I'm fine," she insisted, and hurried off before he could stop her. Marcus shrugged to himself, and went back to searching through the cameras.
Ciara gave a low groan as she stretched out her arms, moving to press her hands on the small of her back to crack it.
"That was too easy," she declared to herself, her voice echoing through the empty corridor she'd found. Taking a seat, the speedster drummed her hands against her knees idly. "They know I'll avoid cameras as much as I can, so I probably won't be safe for long here," Ciara considered aloud, sighing as she leaned back, pressing her back to the cold wall behind her.
She could feel a low hum through the wall and flooring, as the engines worked to keep the Helicarrier in the air. It fascinated her, but at the same time, it made her nervous. There was nowhere to run in the sky. She avoided flying for exactly that reason.
Ciara's eyes shot open, when she heard a small clank of something hitting metal, and immediately got to her feet. When someone hushed another in a hiss, she pulled the hood of her cloak up, and felt the familiar warmth fill her body as she vanished into the shadows.
"I can't believe we got lumped with finding the prisoner," one man complained to another as they walked into view, looking around. The other hissed again, trying to get him to be quieter. "I signed up for helping to stop terrorists, and fighting stuff that's kept out of the media," he continued, ignoring the attempts to keep him quiet. "Instead we're stuck looking for an escaped mutant who's only threat is that they can run fast," he mocked. Ciara's fists clenched at his mocking tone.
"You really are an idiot," his companion finally spoke, rolling his eyes. "She's evaded capture for months, and she's working alongside that guy that killed a load of SHIELD agents, and some scientists," he argued as they walked by. Ciara had to fight not to react. 'Alongside' wasn't entirely accurate. "Come on, and keep quiet. We'll never catch her if she hears us coming," he pushed the other agent, and they continued walking. Ciara moved in the opposite direction, keeping to the shadows to avoid detection.
"Hear them coming..." she murmured as she walked, thinking back to Germany. She'd definitely not heard Penelope approach. Part of her put it down to Stark blasting music to announce his arrival, right before helping take Loki down, that she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings. But something about that bugged her. It was part of her Mutant ability; she was hyper aware of everything around her. Even if she was distracted, she could tell if something was going on around her.
Deep in thought about the strange agent, Ciara wandered the Helicarrier. Keeping to the shadows, the fugitive avoided everyone who walked around the ship, and eventually came across the lab where Tony and Bruce were working. Peering in, she saw the sceptre glowing in the artificial light that kept the lab bright as they worked through the night. When Bruce looked up sharply, Ciara darted away, retreating farther into the shadows.
"What's up big guy?" Tony asked, noticing the action as Bruce removed his glasses to rub his eyes with his fingertips.
"Thought someone was there," he muttered. "Think I'm just being...paranoid," the scrawny scientist smiled bashfully. He cast another glance at the window, and returned to what he was doing, and Ciara peeked in again.
"Another one too cautious for their own good," she murmured to herself, moving on through the corridors, and looking back at the lab. "So they got the big guy in for helping track the Cube. Smart," she murmured to herself, and put a hand to her chest.
She could still feel it, in the corner of her mind. The pull the Tesseract had on her. Even now, miles from wherever Loki had sent it, she was still very aware of its presence somewhere.
Taking a breath, Ciara shook her head and continued walking, stepping through a doorway. She stopped as she was greeted by a large glass prison in the centre of the room, and tilted her head.
"Miss me already?" Loki's voice echoed from inside, and she rolled her eyes.
"More like got lost," Ciara sniffed, approaching it curiously. "It's definitely overkill for you, but there's no doubt who it was really built for," she commented, hands behind her back as Loki kept his back to her. "I'm surprised they didn't put a bunch more guards around. They're really certain you can't escape there," Ciara turned, and spotted a camera aimed directly at her. She smirked, waving with a wiggle of her fingers at it. "Though I imagine it'll not be long until they all converge here," she considered.
"Do you ever stop talking?" Loki gave an irritated sigh, still refusing to look at her. Ciara turned back to him with a flourish, putting her hands behind her back.
"I could have asked you the same, what with that performance in Germany," she retaliated.
"If you're only here to mock," Loki glanced over his shoulder, looking bored. "Then you might as well leave and continue leading these fools around in circles. You will find I'm not a verbal sparring partner for you," he then turned away, almost sticking his nose in the air.
"Oh," Ciara let out a giggle, leaning forwards. "Someone didn't appreciate my comment," she accused with a smirk.
"You're as irritating as a fly buzzing around asking to be swatted, girl. Are you truly that bored on this ship?" Loki didn't look at her, wishing his curiosity hadn't won out and let her live.
"Not quite," Ciara said, and turned, faster than Penelope had expected, and grabbed her wrist. Her smirk turned malicious as Penelope struggled in her grasp.
"Let me go," the young woman lashed out as Loki glanced around, his brow furrowed, and Ciara dodged, before letting Penelope go. She kicked her, hard enough to knock the agent to the ground, winded. The prisoner turned completely, staring at the coughing girl on the ground.
"I figured it out," Ciara stood over Penelope, who looked up as she struggled to catch her breath. "Why you were able to sneak up on me back in Germany. You're a mutant," her accusation had the expected reaction. The brown haired young woman's eyes widened, and her heart leapt into her throat. Ciara felt a rush of glee. "I was right! I knew that had to be it. Nobody sneaks up on me so easily, even with Stark demanding all the attention," she laughed, taking a step back.
"What are you talking about?" Penelope managed to get to her feet, ignoring the pain in her chest.
"I'm not too sure how you do it," Ciara shrugged, walking around. She glanced to Loki, and smirked as she saw his attempt to hide his own surprise at the revelation. "But you can make yourself silent. Make it so others can't hear you coming. That's why you sneaked up behind me, both times," Penelope swallowed as Ciara guessed it correctly. "But since you caught me off guard the first time, I've been a bit more careful. Saw your reflection in the glass," Ciara rapped her knuckles off the glass.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I will take you down," Penelope grabbed her gun, but in a flash, Ciara was in front of her, holding her wrist in the air, and the gun was clattering away as her hand stung from the blow.
"You lost the element of surprise. Any chance of beating me went south the moment I knew you were there," Ciara mocked her, and swung a fast punch. The blow knocked Penelope out cold, and Ciara let her crumple to the ground by her feet. "Boring. I miss the fun mutants who actually gave me a challenge," she complained with a roll of her eyes.
"Must you make so much noise?" Loki was sitting now, his back to Ciara again as he sounded irritated by her speaking.
"Oh, Loki," he didn't react as she pressed her fingertips to the glass. "Don't get boring," her voice was soft and gentle, and with that, she was gone.
"Tournes!" Marcus ran in, flanked by multiple guards, and rushed over to the girl. "Find her!" he barked at the men, who immediate rushed off as he crouched beside Penelope. He shot Loki a suspicious look, but the prisoner didn't even acknowledge them. As he tried to wake the girl, Ciara ran through the Helicarrier, her being buzzing with adrenaline. She'd almost been caught again by the agent, and despite her bluster, Ciara had only noticed her at the last second.
Finally she stopped, in a quiet, dark corner, where she sank to the ground, despite not being even slightly out of breath. After a moment of quiet, she laughed to herself, leaning her head back against the wall.
"God, I really hope this stays fun," Ciara mused aloud, before hearing footsteps. Pulling her hood fully over her head, she vanished into the shadows easily, and watched as a familiar figure walked by. He was quiet, looking around him as if he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he continued walking.
Fighting back an excited laugh, Ciara got back to her feet, watching Captain America as he walked straight towards the storage area. "Okay," she nodded to herself. "Looks like it will," she giggled quietly, and followed the hero towards storage.
Hope you liked it!
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