Rated T
Yes, a real treat. You get two updates in as many days, and I don't know why except I just felt like it. Hope you enjoy!
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Chapter Six: Mind Games
Severus purposefully slowed his steps while Rogers and Thor took charge of Loki, escorting him to wherever they planned to keep him locked up, accompanied by SHIELD agents, who also took the gold staff somewhere else. The group soon left him behind, but he wasn't exactly surprised when Natasha stayed back with him. Stark had disappeared from their group as soon as they arrived, grumbling about his suit and the repairs he needed to get done. He no doubt had returned to his lab to listen to awful muggle heavy metal songs and scoot around in his swivel chair.
Severus felt like he had been hit with a tornado curse. His insides, especially his brain, felt completely scrambled. He needed to sit down somewhere and drop his occlumency shields while he rearranged his mind, and then reestablish the shields to what he called their 'wartime' strength. Loki's magic was still pulsing against his, inviting him to release his own pent-up energy and allow their magic to intermingle. It was a torturous longing, one which made him realize how long it had been since he simply released his magic and allowed it to feed from powerful magic sources, like Hogwarts. But allowing his iron control to slip now would be the absolute worst idea in the world. Loki was not even looking at him at the moment, so to speak. He needed to stay out of the Asgardian's notice if he wanted to get out of this nightmare alive … or free, at any rate. Perhaps talking to Bruce would help him make sense of the madness he had just dropped into. What had he been thinking, demanding to accompany Natasha on her mission? He had been bored, and curious, and impulsive. He wouldn't make that mistake again. He was just here until Bruce finished finding their Tesseract object, and then they could go back to a less confusing existence.
"Are you okay?" Natasha Romanoff suddenly asked at his side.
Severus blinked and glanced at her, wondering if he ought to answer her or blow her off. He was most decidedly not okay, but he had no idea how to tell her that Loki's magic was giving him a migraine, he was worried and paranoid about having two 'gods' in residence here, and he still had no idea who anyone was here or what their goal was.
"What makes you ask?" Severus chose to ask instead.
"You've got this look on your face like you've either got a migraine or you really need the bathroom."
"Very funny," Severus snarled. "I have a headache, so kindly take your jokes elsewhere if you have nothing in good taste to say."
"Sheesh, relax Severus," Natasha smirked. "You really are a jerk when you're grouchy, you know that?"
"I've known that all my life, thank you very much."
"So what did you think?"
"Of what? Of everything?"
"Well … yes."
Severus sighed and massaged his temples, sorely wishing for Bruce and his steady common sense and storehouse of muggle knowledge. What did he want to ask first? Everything was confusing. "Loki told me that he has a brother," Severus finally commented.
"Yes, you met Thor, didn't you?"
"Thor is not Loki's brother. In the myths, Loki is fostered in the court of Odin All-Father, but they are not brothers."
Natasha blinked up at him and shook her head. "I can't speak for Norse mythology, but maybe you should talk to Thor. From what I've seen, those two are a lot different from the way the stories portray them. SHIELD got into contact with Thor about a year ago, out in New Mexico. Apparently he was exiled from Asgard until he could 'prove himself worthy', or something to that effect. Ever hear a myth like that?"
Severus frowned. Of course, he had often heard that truth was stranger than fiction, but still … "In the myths," Severus said slowly. "Loki is a demi-god of magic and chaos, the shape-shifting son of a frost-giant. Thor is a god of storms, lightning and warfare. He is the son of Odin, father of the gods. How can they be brothers?"
"Adopted?" Natasha suggested. "Anyway, is that really what's bothering you? You've looked off ever since Loki started talking in our earpieces."
Severus internally winced. The red-head was really too good at her job. He supposed the best thing to do would be to tell as much truth as he could afford to say. He was too tired to play games right now. "I dislike arrogant upstarts like him on principle," he answered slowly. "But the real issue is … I simply do not trust him. With power like his, why is he allowing himself to be captured like this? It makes no sense."
"I know," Natasha murmured. "He's definitely up to something. Don't worry; I plan to dig it out of him one way or another."
"I wish you luck," Severus muttered. They reached the area with the laboratories and noticed Bruce exiting his lab, looking nervous and uneasy and even more rumpled than he had hours earlier. But he lit up when he saw Severus.
"There you are!" Bruce exclaimed. "You didn't come back to the lab, so I called Fury to ask, and he said you'd come back here, but I hadn't seen you so I was worried … Where have you been anyway? You look terrible."
"He came along on our capture-Loki mission," Natasha answered before Severus could, with a slight smirk. She suddenly tilted her head to the side and her smirk vanished as she received information in her earpiece. Severus had his in his pocket. It was rather uncomfortable. "Fury wants us on the bridge," Natasha announced briskly. "It looks like Fury's pulling us all together for a briefing now that Loki's behind bars."
"So to speak," Bruce added in an uncomfortable murmur. "Where would they find a prison secure enough to hold a being with the kind of power I've heard about?"
"SHIELD is pretty resourceful," Natasha replied dismissively as she led the way up the corridor at a rapid pace. "Come on, you two."
Severus and Bruce exchanged a loaded glance before following the red-haired agent back to the bridge.
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Severus stood near the wall as he had while the SHIELD vessel was taking off into the skies, observing the gathered individuals and the screen that showed a large room where Fury was taunting Loki in his glass cage. He could have told the one-eyed pirate that it was a bad idea to taunt a clearly powerful magic-user, but he didn't think Director Fury would think much of his advice.
"Ant, meet boot," the Director pointed out smugly after finishing up a lengthy description of the god's new prison, not seeming put off by Loki's condescending smile.
"Oh, it is an impressive cage," Loki agreed calmly, his smile widening. "But not built, I think, for someone like me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury retorted.
"Ah yes, the mindless beast; makes play he's still a man," Loki replied on the screen, glancing up to smirk at the camera in his glass tumbler. To those watching from the bridge, he looked rather like he was smirking out at them in particular. Severus narrowed his eyes furiously at the god's innocent blue eyes and noticed Bruce stiffen slightly beside him. "How desperate are you?" Loki continued, tilting his head to the side. "That you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"
"How desperate am I?" Fury snorted. "You come here and threaten my world with war. You kill 'cause it's fun. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You've made me very desperate. And you might not be glad you did."
"Oh, I see; it burns you to come so close," Loki scoffed, his smirk growing wider. "To be this close to having unlimited power;" he paused and smiled wider, as if he were laughing inside. "And for what? 'A warm light for all mankind to share'? And then to be reminded what real power is."
Fury scoffed and shook his head, apparently finished with the discussion. "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or somethin'," he flippantly threw over his shoulder as he exited the brig, his leather coat swirling impressively around him.
Severus let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, and noticed Bruce looking painfully tense, while nobody else in the room was looking at him. But it was such an obvious 'I'm not looking at you', that Severus felt suddenly angry on his friend's behalf. But no one was speaking up in defense of the man.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce suddenly muttered, attempting to bring some levity into the situation. No one answered or looked over. The silence was getting extremely uncomfortable.
"Bruce is not a beast," Severus gritted out through clenched teeth.
Captain Rogers turned surprised blue eyes on him. "We never said he was," he replied softly, giving Dr. Banner a brief smile before he returned his attention to the screen where Loki was slowly pacing his prison, an amused look on his face.
"But Loki had a point …" Natasha pointed out shrewdly.
"He's a bloody arrogant bastard with delusions of grandeur," Severus snapped. "Can any of you see that?"
"Have a care how you speak," Thor suddenly spoke up, his tone sharp with warning. "Loki may be a criminal now, but he is an Asgardian, and of royal blood. I will not suffer my brother to be reviled by common mortals."
Severus glared dismissively at the blond god and his flashing blue eyes, and decided to needle him further. "Well this 'common mortal' isn't all that impressed by your brother, royal or not," he sneered mockingly. "It was all too easy to subdue him."
"He's right," Fury suddenly spoke up, entering the bridge from a door behind Severus. "It was too easy to reel him in. I get the feeling that Loki there's the only one who really wants to be on this boat."
"We need to find out what he's up to," Natasha spoke up firmly.
"We need to find out where that damned Tesseract is," Fury contradicted her. "And we need to figure out how that magic staff works before he turns more of my men into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys?" Thor coughed in confusion. "I do not understand."
"I do!" Captain Rogers suddenly cheered, a relieved smile on his face. "I understood that reference."
Severus rolled his eyes. For the love of Merlin, this was why he could never reveal his magical abilities. These were people who would look at him with a magic wand and think of Glenda the Good Witch or the Wicked Witch of the West, for heaven's sake. Flying monkeys, indeed.
Wait, what?
"The staff?" Severus spoke up sharply, interrupting Bruce's lecture on tracking gamma radiation signatures on accident. "The staff has the ability to … possess individuals?"
"That's right," Fury said slowly, giving him an uncomfortably keen look with his one eye. "What do you know about it?"
"Only …" Severus struggled with how much he ought to say. It was important that they understand how this kind of possessive magic worked … but why should he know so much about it? "In Stuttgart, I felt compelled to kneel with the rest of the crowd. And when Natasha attempted to give me the staff in the quinjet, I refused, but I did not know why I feared it." That was a lie, but how could he explain that he could feel the pull, the hypnotic voice in his mind, and the compulsion to take up the staff because it was pleasing to the eye and good for wisdom …?
"Oka-ay," Fury said slowly, again giving him a sharp look. "So you were the only one affected like this?"
"He seemed fine," Natasha butted in, giving Severus a worried glance. "Whatever he 'felt', he didn't let it interfere with what we were doing, and he never touched it."
"Well, that's good to know," Fury grunted. "But what is this staff, exactly?"
"Legends of our people speak of a powerful artifact called the Mind Stone," Thor suddenly spoke up. "My brother fell from Asgard last year after we … I … destroyed the Bifrost. I have been desperately searching for him ever since. It is possible that Loki's own magic drew him to this scepter, and he claimed it with a mind to rule one of the nine worlds. The call of the Tesseract upon your planet drew him hither, and he needed allies to assist him, so he took them with the staff."
"So how do we get our people free of it?" Captain Rogers demanded, looking ready to jump up and go set the captives free right this instant.
Thor hesitated, looking pained. He glanced briefly at the screen showing Loki in his containment cell before he spoke softly, "The one wielding the scepter must free them on his own. Or perhaps a powerful mage could wield the staff and overtake the magical influence …"
"Okay, let's leave that for now," Fury interrupted, waving his hand. "I received word that some of those folks broke into a SHIELD vault and stole some equipment and supplies." The one-eyed man turned to one of the screens at his elbow and tapped it, and on the screens where Loki was supposed to be shown, a list of things appeared. Severus couldn't understand most of it, and he felt annoyed at the fact. But one glance at the politely blank expressions on Thor's and Captain Rogers' faces, and he didn't feel quite so ignorant. Well, that was relatively speaking. Realizing that he was just as ignorant as the two Gryffindors in the room wasn't exactly comforting.
"What would he need Iridium for?" Fury demanded, striding toward the large screen and glaring up at it.
"They need it as a stabilizer, of course," the snotty, arrogant tone of Mr. Stark intruded on their discussion. The man sauntered through a doorway, dressed in his original clothes, though he had thrown a suit jacket and a tie on for appearance's sake. Following him was the patiently smiling Coulson. Severus felt his lip curling instinctively as Stark waltzed in like he owned the place, hands in his pants pockets and head in the air.
"The Iridium means that the portal won't collapse in on itself like it did at SHIELD," Stark announced with the air of someone explaining basic math. He grinned suddenly at Thor and sauntered over, slapping his casually on his broad shoulder. "Hey, no hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." Thor looked suitably confused, and Severus huffed softly, wondering if the man ever stayed on topic for longer than a sentence. "Also, it means the portal can stay open as long as Loki wants," Stark continued with a shrug. It took a second to realize that Stark was back on the topic of Iridium.
The man wandered over to Fury's command station and waved his hands theatrically. "Argg! Raise the mid-mast there! Up the main sails!" Absently, Stark reached out and poked one of the screens, and then covered one of his eyes with the other hand while he twisted from side to side. "Honestly, how does Fury see any of this stuff?"
"He turns," Captain Rogers replied, sounding almost as annoyed as Severus felt.
"Sounds exhausting," Stark commented flippantly. Severus did not miss how Stark's hand strayed under one of the command screens and stuck something like a small round magnet to the underside as he was speaking and waving his other hand around as a distraction. "That man's playing Galaga!" Stark suddenly interrupted himself. He was pointing accusingly at a technician at a computer off to the side like a child tattle-tale. "Thought we wouldn't notice," he shrugged. "But we did."
Severus sighed again, wondering how long this was going to take. He noticed that he wasn't the only one already exhausted by Stark's high-energy bouncing from subject to subject while they were attempting to have an intelligent conversation.
"The rest of the raw meterials, Barton or the other guys can find pretty easily," Stark was saying, back on topic once again. "Only major component he needs is a power source; high energy density, something to kick-start the cube.
Natasha eyed Stark with distaste. "So when did you become an expert in thermo-nuclear astrophysics?" she demanded.
"Last night," Stark peered at her as if he couldn't believe that she wasn't an expert in thermo-whatever-it-was like him. "The packet? Selvig's notes? Extraction Theory papers?… Honestly, am I the only one who did the required reading?"
"Did you say Selvig?" Thor suddenly interrupted, looking strangely pained.
"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce explained with a sigh. "If Loki's trying to turn the Tesseract into another portal, that's why he'll need Selvig."
"He was taken by Loki," Natasha added. "Friend of yours?"
Thor's face pinched. "He's a friend," he confirmed softly.
Captain Rogers suddenly thumped his knuckles on the table to get Stark's attention. "So does Loki need a particular sort of power?" he demanded.
"Have to be a helluva lot of power," Stark replied, nodding thoughtfully.
"He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred-twenty-million kelvin just to break the coulomb barrier," Bruce commented gravely.
"Sure," Stark agreed easily. "Unless Selvig's figured out how to break through the quantum tunneling effect."
"If he could do that, then he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet," Bruce scoffed and Severus looked at him with interest. It had been a while since he saw the doctor get this interested in something. The last time had been when Severus was trying to teach him Potion-making.
"Finally, someone who speaks English!" Stark cheered.
Captain Rogers looked dazed, which Severus assumed was how mostly everyone in the room was feeling. "Is that what just happened?" the Captain asked faintly.
Stark sauntered over to Bruce and slung an arm around his shoulder like an old friend. "I'm just thrilled to finally meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled."
"Um … thanks," Bruce muttered in embarrassment.
"And I'm a huge fan of the way you turn into a giant green rage-monster too, by the way," Stark added, his eyes glinting with teasing humor. Severus was not amused, and neither was Bruce, judging by the way a muscle ticked in his cheek and he didn't reply. The wizard stepped forward and forcibly separated the two men, glaring bloody murder at Stark. The self-declared genius merely smiled at him, seemingly unbothered by Severus' hostile glare.
"Dr. Banner is just here to track the cube," Fury interrupted. Up to now, he had seemed content to let Stark and Banner do the explaining, but now he was definitely glaring up at the three of them. Severus stepped back, his jaw clenched so tightly that he heard it creak. "I was hoping you could help him with that, Mr. Stark," Fury added.
"And we should start with that staff of Loki's," Captain Rogers jumped in. "It works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."
"Dunno about that," Fury grumbled. "But it's definitely powered by the cube, and I wanna know what makes it tick. If we can get Barton and Selvig and the rest free from Loki, that'll be a start."
"Good idea," Stark cheered condescendingly. "It all sounds marvelous. Shall we play, Doctor?"
Bruce nodded silently, looking wary, but his eyes were distant. Severus wondered what calculations the good doctor was doing in his mind for him to look so preoccupied. Stark sauntered out of the bridge, and Bruce turned to see if Severus was coming. The wizard moved to follow, but the one-eyed spy-master behind him suddenly called out.
"Doctor Slytherin, if you would be so kind as to accompany me," Fury demanded. Stark paused in the doorway and gave him a curious look, Bruce winced and offered him what was supposed to be an encouraging smile, while Natasha Romanoff and Captain Rogers seemed distracted as they left the bridge. Thor seemed to be looking around for 'Dr. Slytherin' as he left, following Rogers, and didn't notice that Severus had stiffened and was now making no move towards the doors.
Once the Avengers were gone, Fury jerked his head at Severus. "Come on," he said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Let's take a walk."
Severus sighed silently and followed the one-eyed man out of the Bridge. After some walking, they arrived at a different office that the one he had been interviewed in before. This place looked more like a traditional office, with chairs, a desk, decorations, and sunshine pouring in through the windows and the clouds rolling peacefully past.
"Have a seat, Mr. Snape," Fury offered, as soon as the door hissed shut and clicked as it locked behind them.
Severus put his hands behind his back and widened his stance slightly, taking on a military parade rest instead, fixing Fury with a glare of his own. "Why am I here?" Severus demanded frostily. "Haven't you interrogated me already? And then you sent a Russian spy to trail me and test me. What is your game, Fury?"
"I'm just tryin' to find out who the hell you are," Fury replied coldly, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his leather coat. "Your reaction to Loki has been rather … interesting."
Severus glared in mock surprise. "You think I'm in league with that … crazed god?!"
"Never hurts to rule out the possibility," Fury snorted. "Actually, I'm more concerned that you, apparently, don't exist."
Severus blinked, his blood running cold as he wondered if Fury had somehow found out that he faked his death, that he was a Dark Wizard on the run. Was SHIELD aware of the wizarding world somehow? Was Azkaban looming on the horizon? Somehow, he managed to retort in a cool, calm voice, "I beg your pardon?"
"You don't exist," Fury repeated emphatically. "Severus Snape is nothing but a fiction. A cover. So who are you really? Who do you work for? What are you doing here on a SHIELD helicarrier? Hell, what were you doing with Banner in the first place?"
"You are more paranoid than I am, and that is the truth," Severus grumbled, feeling halfway amused and halfway irritated. "You see plots where there are none, and enemies where there is only neutrality."
"You gonna answer any of the questions?"
"I will not, because they are simply ridiculous."
"Then that just proves you're guilty."
"That just proves that there is no possible way I can answer those asinine questions without implicating myself one way or another," Severus sneered, clenching his hands tighter behind his back as he lost his temper with the paranoid government agent. "But to satisfy the recording devices in this room: I am Severus Tobias Snape, son of Eileen and Tobias Snape, resident of Cokeworth, England, and I do not work for anyone but myself. You found Banner and I in Calcutta, serving the poor, and I have been serving the poor for over ten years now. I travel the world anonymously, and yes, I didn't use my passport, but I have not committed any crimes, nor do I intend to. I already told you that I only accompanied Dr. Banner aboard this flying monstrosity merely in an attempt to lend him my support and hopefully prevent the stress of this 'task' from bringing out the Green One. Any other questions, Director?"
Fury glared at him, unperturbed by Severus' nasty tone. "Your records have precious little information, Snape," he finally said, in a snide tone of his own. "One might say they almost look like the files of a ghost agent. Your birth certificate and any info there could easily be forged. Your last job was a dish-washer in a seedy pub when you were sixteen. So what've you been doing the past thirty-somethin' years?"
"I've been wandering," Severus said stiffly. "And before that, I was a … tutor."
"At what school?" Fury scoffed. "Or rather, under what name? Believe you me, I checked everywhere possible, and even places that shouldn't be possible. What are you hiding?"
Severus kept his jaw clenched shut. He had nothing else to say, no more excuses, and there was no way on earth that he was going to talk about the Wizarding world. It was frustratingly ironic, that right when a government caught up with him, he couldn't possibly defend himself, despite the fact that he had done nothing wrong this time.
"What are you going to do with me, Fury?" Severus asked softly. "Put me in Loki's cell?"
"We've got other cells," Fury snorted dismissively.
"If I am so dangerous, who is to say I cannot escape them?"
"Believe you me, you won't."
"You know nothing about me," Severus hissed viciously as his temper boiled uncontrollably to the surface.
"You're right, I don't, and you're not talkin'."
Severus fought the urge to scream. How could anyone be so bullheaded? "What am I supposed to say?" he demanded. "You believe nothing I tell you!"
"You're a good liar, but not good enough," Fury retorted as he raised one eyebrow.
Severus clamped his mouth and throat shut against a howl of frustration. He glared murderously, but he refused to speak any further, He didn't trust himself not to say something he would regret.
"Snape, the only reason I'm not throwing you in a cell right now … is Romanoff," Fury suddenly said, eyeing him thoughtfully. "She sees something in you I can't fathom. I trust her judgment of character. Do you know why?"
"I don't see why I should care," Severus seethed.
"She was once where you are … no past, no future. Just a dead-end life that'll end with your corpse. You don't hafta be a slave, Snape. You can leave it all behind, and work for something meaningful. If you're trapped by your employers … SHIELD can always use a good man."
Severus blinked in surprise. He was too shocked to be angry. They hadn't even seen him do anything yet and already they were trying to recruit him! What was it about manipulative bastards that they simply wanted him to work for them? Was it something in his face?!
"I am not trapped by anyone but Director Fury of SHIELD at the moment," Severus replied sarcastically. "I am not employed by an enemy country, nor am I a 'secret agent' of any sort! Every life ends with a corpse, and every man is a slave of something. I am free, however. I could leave this vessel at any time, yet I choose to stay. Is friendship a concept you do not understand, Director? Do you not fathom the intricacies of loyalty?"
Fury gazed at him for several more minutes before he slowly nodded. "Fine," he said calmly. "If that's the way you wanna play, we can do that … for now. But I'm watching you."
"Of course, you must keep an eye on me," Severus smirked. "But then what will happen when you take your eye off other, more dangerous targets?"
"… Are you threatening me?"
"Warning you," Severus snapped. "Loki is plotting some disaster and he seems to think that he is right where he wishes to be! Ask yourself why! Where is the Tesseract now? And where are the ones he has possessed? Do you have any reason to believe that he cannot still mentally order those people from the confines of a cell that does nothing to block his magic or seal it away? You are wasting your time interrogating me, when the true threat is someone else entirely."
Fury blinked and suddenly pressed a hand to the communications device in his ear. His face morphed into a furious scowl, but he also looked surprised. "Rogers?" he asked tersely. Frowning thoughtfully, he nodded. "Alright. I'll meet him in the lab."
Fury turned with a snap of his coat toward the door, and Severus smoothly stepped in front of him, grabbing the door when it opened and quickly slipping out behind him, letting the door close behind him.
"I'm not risking you locking me in here," Severus explained with a triumphant sneer.
"Nobody said I was locking you up," Fury scowled. "Yet," he added, but he didn't stop the wizard from following him. It seemed that the Director had other things to worry about right now, which was a good thing. As Severus followed the man down the corridors, he wondered wearily when Bruce would finish his work so they could leave this nightmare behind.
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Severus was surprised to see Stark, Bruce, and Captain Rogers all in the laboratory, bending over a strange weapon on the table beside Loki's golden staff. None of them looked happy. Even Stark, in his Black Sabbath T-shirt and sardonic smirk, had a dangerously suspicious look in his eyes. Somehow or other, Severus and Fury picked up Thor on the way and he squeezed into the small lab behind the wizard.
"What are you doing, Stark? Rogers?" Fury demanded.
"Uh, I've been sorta wondering the same thing about you, actually," the man threw back, nonplussed.
Captain Rogers spun around to face them, a strangely tight look on his face. "I want to know why SHIELD is making Hydra weapons."
Fury actually blinked at that, and he frowned as he glanced at the muggle contraption on the desk. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract, including weaponry," Fury drawled, regaining his composure. "This does not mean we –"
"Are you using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction?" the Captain interrupted, distress evident in his voice. "Because you know how well that turned out last time!"
"There's no crime in trying to defend ourselves," Fury snapped. "And 'Captain America' or not, you had no clearance to go wandering the helicarrier and breaking into restricted areas."
"Oh yeah, I had a question too!" Stark suddenly interrupted, his voice heavy with sarcastic curiosity. "Would these weapons be related to Phase 2?"
Fury did freeze at that, and Severus stepped closer to see what was on the screen Stark was pointing to. There seemed to be schematics for weapons like the large firearm currently on the desk under the monitor, a diagram for some kind of power grid, and rows of technical babble that meant absolutely nothing to the Potions Master.
"What is phase 2, anyway?" Stark asked in a more serious tone, swiping at the screen to reveal another page of weapons, these ones apparently the kind that could mount on flying machines like the one they stood on. "Cause it all looks kinda … sinister."
"You broke into SHIELD's database?" Fury demanded, his jaw twitching with rage.
"Hey, I can't help it if you guys don't have a proper firewall," Stark shrugged.
"I thought you said we were doing better than past generations," Captain Rogers burst out, looking pained. "You told me we were done with secrets. So when were you going to tell us about this?"
"It's obvious," Bruce cut in, his face tight with anger. "They were never going to tell us. Why would they?"
"He's got a point," Stark nodded, gesturing at Bruce. "You know, Mr. Spymaster, if we're going to be a team, we've got to know these things."
"We're not a team!" Bruce burst out, waving his hands in agitation. "We're … we're a chemical mixture that creates chaos! That's what we are! We're a time bomb!"
"The Avengers Initiative is something totally different from SHIELD's plans for Phase 2," Fury interrupted as Severus stepped up to Bruce and grabbed his arm tightly, with a glare that reminded him to slow down and breathe. "I thought if I could bring some remarkable people together, we could create something great: something to protect the Earth in the event of something like this!" Fury went on. "Phase 2 was meant to be more of a deterrent in the case of an alien invasion … because of him." He pointed at Thor, who looked startled.
"Me?" he demanded, his voice high with disbelief.
"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet and the fall-out almost flattened a small town," Fury explained, his voice heavy with accusation. "We not only learned that we're not alone in the universe, but we're hilariously, hopelessly, outmatched."
"But my people want nothing but peace with your realm!" Thor protested.
"Yeah, but you guys aren't the only ones out there, are you?" Fury retorted, his one eye glaring daggers at the tall, blond god. "And that's not the only thing. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched; who can't be controlled."
And it's all about control, Severus mused silently. Fury really was no different than most of the men he'd served under during both wars. Dumbledore, the Dark Lord; they both wanted to control everything, micromanage the world to their own designs … It never ended well.
"Right, like you controlled the cube?" Captain Rogers shouted. "I told you that you should've left it in the ocean!"
"Surely you can see now why Loki has set his sights on Earth!" Thor suddenly interrupted with a derisive laugh. "When you began to harness the power of the Space Stone, you alerted the universe that Earth is ready for a higher form of war! Loki spoke to me of his allies, an alien race called the Chitauri. They are vicious, deadly warriors, and they will not rest until your realm is reduced to a burnt cinder, as they have done to many a world before."
"Then you see all the more reason to arm ourselves with what we've got!" Fury shouted.
"Carrying a bigger stick just makes the bully look for an even bigger one," Captain Rogers huffed. "You're only inviting a challenge."
"Of course," Stark snorted sarcastically. "Nuclear deterrent, 'cause that always works."
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark," Fury threw back, his own voice heavy with dark implications.
Bruce cut in before Stark could reply. "You've been messing with fire here, and now Earth's going to pay for it."
"It is our responsibility to protect the Earth from all foes, foreign and domestic," Fury insisted, turning away from the smirking Stark to give his attention to Banner. "Sometimes that means making some risky choices. It was risky to bring all of you together here, but that's only because I know you could be so much more effective as a team."
"Team?" Stark scoffed, munching some kind of dark berries from a small bowl in his hands. "Sorry, don't know if you caught the newsflash, but I'm not much of a team player. Not my style."
Captain Rogers suddenly grew inexplicably angry. "And I suppose you're just all about style, aren't you?"
Stark smirked and eyed him critically. "Look here, Capsicle, of the two of us, which one is, A) wearing a spangly suit, and B) not of use?"
"You're always joking around, aren't you? Never serious."
"No reason to be."
"You're not a hero, so stop pretending to be one," Rogers snapped. "You're self-serving and arrogant … you're not the guy to lay down on a wire to let the other guys crawl over you."
"No, you're right; I'd just cut the wire," Stark retorted sarcastically.
"Always a way out … Take off that fancy Iron Man suit and what are you?" Rogers threw back with an impressive sneer of his own.
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Stark shrugged carelessly.
"I know men without any of that who are ten times the man you are."
Stark's face reddened as Rogers clearly hit a nerve. "What would you know about it? Everything special about you came out of a bottle! You're nothing but a lab rat playing hero!"
"You really think that?" Captain Rogers grinned dangerously. "Fine; put on that suit, let's go a few rounds."
"You people are so petty!" Thor snorted with laughter. "And tiny," he added with a guffaw.
Severus shook his head as the arguing grew louder and more indignant. It was ridiculous: grown men, acting like spoiled teenagers. He mentally distanced himself from the bickering, especially when Stark and Rogers started getting in each other's faces and insulting one another. He turned his attention to Bruce and Fury, who were still at each other's throats about the Tesseract and Avengers Initiative. He knew Bruce was simply furious at the thought of being used, (again) and he knew Fury was simply trying to think like a military leader … but neither of them were completely right. Yet, they weren't wrong either. The simple fact was, life was messy, and precautions really should be taken to protect themselves from outside threats. But humans ought to be given choices in their own lives. When a single group advocated taking all the choices upon themselves for everyone else, tyrannies arose. Yet, if there were those who could help and didn't, they doomed the world to destruction anyway. Severus had been in just such a position during his own war, and he truly didn't like the idea of fighting in another one. He was about to open his mouth and say something to that effect when he stopped himself, wondering why he suddenly felt pushed to say something now when it was obvious his added voice would only make things even more chaotic …
Severus suddenly realized that the presence of the Mind Stone was beating a soothing rhythm against his consciousness, urging him to take it up and stop these petty people from bickering like children. He was wise and powerful, the soothing voice assured him, he could wield the scepter as it was meant to be used … Severus yanked off his coat, gritting his teeth against the power pulsing through the room, and he blinked. Sometimes, he could see magical energy, and now was one of those times. He could see the seducing tendrils of the mind stone, like soft white lines of spider-thread, stretching out and touching the heads of everyone in the room. Only Thor appeared unaffected, but everyone else, all quarreling and shouting, was being subtly influenced by the stone. Muttering protective charms under his breath as he shook out his coat, he hoped it would be enough, before simply throwing his coat over the glowing tip of the golden scepter … All at once, the soothing voice disappeared from his mind, and everyone else in the room fell silent, apparently realizing how silly they had been acting.
Captain Rogers blinked first and focused on Severus, who was still standing over the mind stone, his hands clenched in his coat as if he wanted to strangle the golden scepter. Severus lifted his head a bit, peering at the sheepish, bewildered men in the room through his limp, somewhat greasy hair.
"The Mind Stone apparently is powerful enough to influence those around it who are not strong enough to resist," Severus explained roughly.
"You mean …" Stark trailed off, looking sheepish.
"It lowered your inhibitions and encouraged you to act selfishly," Severus interrupted irritably.
"Do you think Loki can control it from all the way in the brig?" Captain Rogers asked, sounding bewildered.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he could," Severus muttered, glancing down at his hands. He slowly untangled his fingers from his coat and stepped back, fighting the urge to reach up and press a hand to his chest, since his heart was trying to pound its way out of his rib cage for some reason. He had a very bad feeling. He hadn't had such a feeling since the last time he was in the Shrieking Shack and the Dark Lord had gone on about that stupid Elder Wand and his giant snake was right there …
"But … you stopped it?" Fury demanded with a suspicious glint in his eye. "How?"
"I don't know how," Severus snapped impatiently, his heart still pounding as he could feel the power of the stone beating against his binding spells and against his occlumency shields. It did not like being covered up. If he'd had a wand, this would be so much easier … and obvious. "But I'm covering it, so perhaps it needs to be exposed in order to work its magic, so to speak," Severus added. "It may take some time for the stone reach out again, but in the meantime, I believe you should consider putting this thing in a safer place."
Before anyone could respond, Natasha Romanoff came through the lab door at a fast pace, her face pinched and angry. "He's planning to release the Hulk," she snapped out.
"Who?" Fury demanded, drawing his pistol.
"Loki!" Natasha spat. "Don't ask me how he knows about Banner, or any of it, but that's his plan. All his digs about his prison, and a beast, and 'real power'; all of it refers to his plan of escape."
"Then why allow himself to be captured?" Fury demanded incredulously. "It's gotta be more than that."
"He needed to be captured in order to analyze you," Severus found himself saying. "He has already succeeded in causing you to turn on one another, and on potential allies, in your selfishness and paranoia." He glared at Fury as he said this. "You are true threats to his planned rule, but he can defeat you one at a time, and he will be free to dominate the world if he can get you quarreling with each other rather than joining together to fight him."
"My brother has ever been skilled in manipulation," Thor reluctantly agreed. "He is so subtle that most never realize that he has been playing them as skillfully as a gifted harpist until it is too late."
"So how do we stop Loki from doing that?" Captain Rogers demanded.
The awful silence that followed ended with every eye turning to look at Banner, who was trembling slightly, and his jaw was flexing with emotion. Severus knew enough to realize … Bruce was angry. He was furious. And worst of all, he was frightened.
"Bruce …" Severus said warningly.
"You're gonna lock me up," Bruce said softly.
Severus realized that what most did not know about Bruce, was that he got loud when he was frightened or nervous, and quiet when he was angry. He was blissfully silent when he was happy, but his eyes also had a glassy, far-away look. Bruce was completely alert right now, his eyes were snapping with rage, and his hands were flexing at his sides. Suddenly, every gun in the room was pointing at him, from Natasha's to Fury's to an agent at the door.
"You think those things are gonna be any use on me?" Bruce demanded in a slightly louder tone. "I for one know they don't. I already tried."
"Bruce," Severus tried again.
"I was feeling low, okay!" Bruce said in a still louder voice. "So I put a bullet in my mouth and the Other Guy spit it out! So I moved on! I was doing fine until you dragged me into this freak show and put everyone at risk!"
"Bruce!" Severus said more sharply, reaching out the grip his friend's shoulder. The man was trembling, struggling to control himself, and his breath was coming in angry pants.
"Calm down, Dr. Banner," Fury said. "We're not going to hurt you. We're just going to keep you safe for a little while. Now if you could just, calmly, step away from that desk …"
There was a sudden beep from one of the computers behind them, and Severus let out a breath of relief at the distraction. Banner shrugged Severus' hand off his shoulder and made his way around the desk, tapping on the screen.
"Located the Tesseract?" Fury demanded.
"Looks like it," Bruce grunted.
"Great!" Stark cheered. "I can get there fastest."
"You're not going alone," Captain Rogers said flatly.
"You gonna stop me?" The dark-haired man smirked.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," Thor interrupted. "No mortal being can wield it."
"Well SHIELD here was doing a good job of trying anyway," Captain Rogers growled, before turning back to Stark. "I can stop you, with the suit or not."
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man," Stark taunted him.
"Gentlemen!" Severus interrupted harshly. Silence fell in the lab at the sound of his loud voice. So far, no one had heard him shout with such authority, but Severus Snape had been able to hold entire classrooms of unruly children spellbound. That authority had not left him, and everyone in the room could sense it.
"No one is going after the Tesseract alone," the wizard hissed. "Can you not hear yourselves? I covered the mind stone and yet you are still squabbling like children! You are playing into Loki's hands and he isn't even here!"
"He's right about that," Fury muttered. He gestured suddenly at Natasha Romanoff, who frowned slightly at being addressed. "Agent Romanoff, could you escort Dr. Banner to his room please? Now that we know Loki's play, it'd be a good idea to –"
"You're going to put me in a cage," Bruce interrupted with a growl, his veins swelling again as he struggled to contain his anger. Severus held his breath even while he cursed Fury for setting Bruce off again.
"The cell is just a precaution …"
"In case you need to kill me!" Bruce cut in, his voice higher than normal, slightly hysterical. "Weren't you listening? The Other Guy won't let me be killed!"
"Please come along, Dr. Banner," Fury growled, suddenly turning his pistol on Severus, to the wizard's shock. "And you; don't move."
Bruce tensed at the threat to his friend and Severus groaned silently. Could Fury be any more stupid? Bruce growled slightly between his teeth and the veins on his neck suddenly bulged while he clenched his jaw so tightly that Severus could hear it creak. It was almost too late, he realized. Disregarding Fury's warning, the wizard plunged his hand into his pocket for the extra-strength calming draught before …
The world exploded.
A~HP~V~HP~E~HP~N~HP~G~HP~E~HP~R~HP~S
This chapter was a pain to write. I remembered a lot of disjointed scenes from the movie, but I actually had to look up the script to put it some semblance of order. I don't really like to do that, normally, because I like the story to flow naturally with my own memory of the movie and it feels better to me. So, I'm sorry about this chapter, which is probably really close to the movie but still, less organic. But the next ones are better, I promise. This middle part of the movie is just hard for me. When I had the idea for this story, I imagined Severus and Bruce together in Calcutta, and Snape blasting aliens with his magic, and that's about it. However, I did change up a few things, like making Snape and Thor explain about the mind Stone, Snape trying to stop the scepter from making them all fight, and giving Fury an interview with Snape instead of talking to Coulson and Thor about Jane.
Hope it turned out alright, and next chapter we'll get to some Snape heroics.