They were back on the Helicarrier, the skies dark around them while they hovered over the Atlantic Ocean. AJ briefed with Fury about her conversation with Loki and how Barton had revealed to him just who and what AJ was, or, what she could do. Fury brows had furrowed and his lips twisted in frustration.
"We knew that might happen," He had told her, watching as troop of armed guards who worked for SHIELD had brought in Loki, the God of Mischief had smirked when he walked past AJ and Fury, his eyes lingering on the female agent.
He could expose her secrets.
AJ wasn't ready for that.
"Agent," Tony Stark walked up to where AJ was standing, watching as Steve spoke with Coulson from across the area. AJ looked away from the super solider and her eyes met Tony's.
"How can I help you, Mr. Stark?" She asked him.
He smiled, "I have something for you. I was going to give it to you on the plane ride back – but with the prisoner on board, I thought it might not be the most appropriate time." He dug something out of his pocket. "Also, the walking L'Oreal add crashed the party and I became distracted."
AJ raised her brows, tired and slightly annoyed, wanting Tony to just get on with it.
He presented her with a picture.
She held the picture in her hands, her eyes trained on the image. Three people were in this picture. Dr. Erskine, Howard, and AJ. They had taken the picture the day they had perfected the serum completely. They all looked so thrilled, Howards smile bigger than ever, Dr. Erskine had pride in his eyes as he smiled wide. And AJ, dressed in her lab coat with her hair done up so it was out of her face, beamed. That had been such a happy day.
AJ felt her breath catch in her throat, her finger skimming over Howard and Erskine's faces, trying to recall the very moment.
"Dr. Adelyn Frost." Tony said, causing AJ to look away from the picture and up at him. "My father talked about you constantly when I was a child." AJ looked away from Tony, but he went on. "-I just don't understand how you are standing right in front of me looking the exact same age as you did in this picture. You might have changed your hair, doc, but your face gives you away."
AJ looked back at Tony, biting down on the inside of her cheek. "It's a long story, Tony." She decided to say.
"Oh, I have time." Tony leaned up against the railing, crossing his arms over his chest. "Dear ol' Dad told me that you died back in the forties. "Feel free to explain now."
She shook her head, "Another time." She moved to walk away but Tony grabbed her by the arm, stopping her from walking away. "Hands off – or you won't have hands anymore." AJ said with a glare, not liking being man-handled. It had happened too much in the forties and her mind couldn't help but drift back to that day at Camp McCoy when Dr. Bateman had slapped her around.
Now she was capable of defending herself without any help.
But she'd give anything to have Bucky here to step in. Because that would mean that he was alive.
"How are you here?" Tony stressed the word.
"Do we have a problem here?"
AJ closed her eyes, dreading what was bound to happen.
Steve walked over to where Tony and AJ were, where Tony still kept his hand wrapped around her arm. "Oh, no problem, Cap. Adelyn here was just about to tell me how she is even here." He took the picture out of AJ's hand and thrust it forward, smacking it against Steve's chest.
It was her moment to escape from Tony's grip, which she did. But she placed herself between Steve and Tony and looked up to her friend.
He was already giving Tony a weird look, more than likely confused as to why Tony referred to AJ as Adelyn, since no one in this time (except for him on certain occasions,) ever called her by her actual name. And then he looked down at the picture.
His eyes quickly moved from looking down at the picture to looking at AJ. "It's fine, Steve." She tried to assure him, not wanting him to make a bigger deal out of the situation that it granted. "We're going to walk away now," She rest her hands-on Steve's chest, trying to get him away from Tony. She looked over her shoulder as she got Steve to begin to walk backwards and away from the man. "And Tony and I will have a long conversation when the world isn't about to end. You have my word."
Tony huffed, arms folded over his chest again. "Sure thing," he spoke sarcastically and walked away.
AJ prayed that he'd let her tell him about her story and that he wouldn't blurt out to everyone that she was actually in her nineties, something it did not say in her SHIELD record (well, the one that wasn't classified.)
Steve and AJ walked over to where Natasha, Thor and Bruce were, gathering around a table that Fury often sat at while on the Helicarrier. She passed Natasha after quickly bending down to her ear to whisper that Tony figured out who she was.
Natasha had snapped her head in AJ's direction, standing up to follow after her, but AJ just shook her head, holding her hand up to tell her that they'd deal with it later. They all sat at the table, minus Bruce and Thor who both preferred to stand, neither choosing to watch the interrogation, only listen. But AJ, Natasha and Steve all watched the monitors where Loki was being held.
"In case it's unclear, you try to escape – you so much as scratch that glass-" Fury revealed to Loki how the floor beneath the cell could drop away to nothing, the wind howling below Loki. "-Thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?"
Fury pushed the button and the floor closed, he then gestured to Loki. "Ant," and then back to the control panel where the button was to open the floor, "Boot."
Loki smiled, "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you."
"Oh, I've heard." He grinned, turning his head so he could look into the security camera. AJ sat next to Steve, watching on the monitor as Loki began to talk about Dr. Banner. "A mindless beast – makes play he's still a man."
AJ looked over at Bruce who had an amused look on his face as his eyes were direction to Natasha. She frowned, feeling pity towards the man. But her attention was quickly drawn back to the monitors as Loki continued.
"How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you."
"How desperate am I?" Fury shot back in anger. "You threatened my world." AJ watched as he walked slowly towards the glass. "-You steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."
"Oooh," Loki breathed out, "It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power – unlimited power, and for what?" Loki looked back over to the security camera, "A warm light for all of mankind to share?" He mocked as he smiled at the camera. Loki then turned back to face Fury. "And then to be remind that really power is."
Fury smiled and then walked away, still talking to Loki as he exited the area. "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."
The monitors on the table went away.
AJ ran her hands through her hair, trying to push down any emotions.
If she got emotional; scared or angry to the point that she couldn't control her powers? The entire room would be blasted with ice. And then she felt Steve place his hand on her knee that bounced under the table, settling it. AJ gave him a thankful smile.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?"
Steve moved his hand off of AJ's knee. "Loki's going to drag this out. So, Thor," He looked to the God of Thunder. "-What's his play?"
"He has an army called the Chitauri." He turned to face the table, "They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
"An army...from outer space." Steve had to clarify.
They all nodded, agreeing that this wasn't exactly ideal.
Another countries army they could face – but an army of an alien race? How could they ever defeat them? How could anyone on earth ever survive.
"So, he's building another portal." Banner said, realizing Loki's motives, "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."
"Selvig?" Thor said back to Bruce.
"He's an astrophysicist," Banner explained.
But AJ was aware that Thor knew who he was already.
"He's a friend." Thor state.
"Loki has them under some kind of spell – along with one of ours." Her eyes met AJ's briefly.
"-I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Steve said, looking back at Bruce.
Bruce shook his head, "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him."
Thor stepped forward, his eyes on Bruce. "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."
"Thor," AJ said, trying to get him to see that he was defending a murderer. "He has killed seventy-eight people in two days."
"Eighty." Natasha corrected her.
She motioned to Natasha and nodded her head before for looking back at Thor, waiting for him to try and stand up for his brother again.
Thor looked to her, not able to justify Loki's actions after being told how many he had killed, instead, he simply said, "He's adopted."
AJ couldn't help but huff out a laugh at that.
"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?" Bruce asked.
"-It's a stabilizing agent." Tony said as he walked in with Coulson, speaking quietly to the man before turning his attention back to the group as Coulson walked away, "It means the portal won't collapse like it did at SHIELD." Tony saw Thor glowering at him and held up his hand in defeat, "No hard feelings, point break. You got a mean swing." He patted Thor's arm with the back of his hand, referring to the forest demolishing fight Thor, Tony, and Steve had had before returning to the Helicarrier.
AJ smiled when Thor gave Tony a nasty look as the man walked away.
"Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants." He walked over to Fury's control panels, "Ahhh, raise the mizzen mast, ship the top sails." He told some of SHIELDS personnel who all looked at him strangely. Tony then pointed behind him at a man who had his back facing him, "That man is playing Galaga!" Tony shouted. Steve looked over at AJ in confusion, but she simply shrugged – she didn't understand the reference either. "Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."
Tony stood at the command area and then covered one eye and looked at each panel, he lowered his hand, "How does Fury even see these?" He said, turning to look at them.
"He turns," Maria Hill said, attitude in her tone.
"Sounds exhausted," Tony said as he spun around. He then began to mess with the screens, pressing random things. It was odd. But AJ paid no mind to it. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to – kick start the cube." He turned and look at Maria Hill.
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" She asked, not amused.
"Last night." Tony answered. They all looked at him in confusion, "The packet. Selvigs notes, the extraction theory papers," He raised his hands up when he looked around and saw that no one understood what he was talking about, "–am I the only one who did the reading?"
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.
"He'd have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Bruce said, looking down at his hands as he paced.
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the Quantum Tunneling effect." Tony walked in the direction of Bruce.
"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any rector on the planet."
"Finally!" Tony motioned to Bruce as he walked over to him. "Someone who speaks English."
Steve looked at AJ, "Is that what just happened?" He asked as Tony and Bruce shook hands behind him.
AJ smiled, recalling how animated Howard would get while they talked science. Tony wasn't as enthusiastic. But the guy knew his stuff. But AJ wouldn't expect anything less from Howard Starks son.
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner." Tony said as they shook hands, "Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a big fan of they way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
AJ looked over her shoulder to see that Bruce was taken back by his words – mostly the last comment. Green rage monster? Really, Tony?
"Um...Thanks." Bruce replied.
Fury walked in. "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." He told Tony.
"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." He looked to AJ who nodded her head in agreement. She had thought the same thing when she had first saw the scepter.
"I don't know about that," Fury said back, "-but it is powered by the Cube. And I like to know how Loki used to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
Thor frowned in confusion, "Monkeys? I do not understand-"
"I do!" Steve said and pointed to Thor, most likely glad to finally understand a reference someone had made. AJ looked down at her hands, trying to hide her amusement while everyone else stayed quiet but kept their eyes on him. Steve shifted awkwardly in the chair, "I...I understood that reference."
He then looked to AJ, almost as if he were trying to get her to be on his side. But she already was. AJ smiled, patting him on the back, "You did good, Buddy."
"-Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony said to Bruce from behind AJ and Steve.
The two both looked over to their direction.
"This way, sir." Bruce said as he led the way to his lab.
When most everyone had gone their separate way, leaving only Steve and AJ sitting at the table, the super solider look at her. "The stick,"
"Scepter." AJ corrected him but Steve waved his hand, brushing her off.
"Hydra's weapons looked exactly like the scepter."
AJ inhaled, "I agree. I think that Hydra sourced their power from something like the Tesseract."
"Or maybe the Tesseract itself," Steve suggested. "Howard fished the damn thing out of the ocean when he was looking for me – it could have been on the jet with me. I flew the damn thing in the oceans trying to rid the world of Hydra ever being able to create weapons like that again and Howard," He shook his head in frustration. "He should have left it in the ocean."
She frowned, she hated to speak ill of the dead, especially when they had been such a good friend, but she did agree with Steve. "I think Howard didn't know just how over his head he would be by getting it out of the ocean – I think he was blinded by his fury of losing the both of us that he wasn't thinking properly."
"-Fury said that he fished it out because he thought that the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited power and sustainable energy." Steve told her, "But something like that only brings death and destruction."
AJ sighed, rubbing her brow and leaned back into the chair she was sitting on. "I am aware."
Steve frowned. "I'm sorry." He said, "I shouldn't–"
Bucky had died after he tried to block a blast from one of the weapons with Steve's shield, only to have it knock him back to where he had fallen off the train, grasping onto an unstable piece of the train that had been damaged by a previous blast. Steve had climbed out and tried to reach Steve. But the bar that Bucky had been clinging to broke off the train.
He fell.
He died.
She had gone over the report a thousand times just trying to understand what went so wrong that cost Bucky his life – but the more times she read over the report, the more frustrated she grew.
AJ cleared her throat and sat up, getting out of the chair. "I have to go find, Natasha." Steve stood up, reaching to grab her hand but AJ moved so he couldn't make contact. "It's fine, Steve." She lied to him, "I'm fine."
She left.
_
He was angry.
Not at AJ.
He understood that he had brought up something she didn't particularly like to talk about – he hadn't even thought, before the words came out – they just spewed out and then he saw the look in AJ's eyes and felt the atmosphere shift. An average person wouldn't be able to detect the slight drop in temperature. But Steve could. But she quickly composed herself and he no longer felt the cold air around them.
No. He was mad because Tony Stark was nothing like Howard.
He was arrogant and thoughtless and completely egotistical and felt that AJ owed him an explanation when she didn't – just because he knew who she truly was didn't mean that she had to tell him anything. He should just leave it as that.
And yeah, Steve was aware that he was becoming extremely protective of AJ, but she was his best friend and she meant a great deal to him. And if Tony planned on exposing her – it would hurt AJ. And if AJ was hurt – Steve was going to have to hurt the person who hurt her.
He walked into the lab just as he watched Tony poke Dr. Banner with something that shocked him, causing him to yelp out the word 'ow'. He stormed in, even more angry with Tony. "Hey!" He yelled, walking over to them.
Tony moved in closer to Bruce, "Nothing?"
He was testing to see if Bruce would turn into the Hulk – did this man have a death wish?
"Are you nuts?" Steve said in anger.
"Jury's out!" Tony said to Steve and then looked back at Bruce, "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" He then looked back to Steve, "Speaking of secrets – is Adelyn ready to talk?"
Steve huffed out in anger, "Is everything a joke to you?" He snapped.
Tony pointed the stick he had zapped Bruce with at Steve from across the lab table, "Funny things are." He answered.
"-Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." He then looked to Bruce, "No offence, Doc." He said apologetically.
"No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Bruce said, but his focus was on the scepter.
"You're tip-toeing, big man." Tony said as he walked away from Bruce. "You need to strut."
"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Steve glared
"You think I'm not?" Tony countered back. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now, why not before? What isn't he telling us?" He walked back over to the lab table and looked across at Steve, "I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."
So, Tony was suspicious to Fury too.
"You think Fury's hiding something from us?" Steve spoke quietly.
"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony said, plopping a blueberry in his mouth and then gestured to Banner, "It's bugging him too, isn't it?"
"Uhhhh," Bruce drew out the word, clearly uncomfortable, "Aah, I just wanna finish my work here and-"
Steve cut him off, wanting to know the answer. "Doctor?"
Bruce was quiet for a moment, he looked as though he was debating to say something or not. The man took off his glasses and began to speak, "A warm light for all mankind. Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."
"I heard it." Steve said, still not understanding.
"Well, I think that was meant for you." Bruce pointed to Tony.
Tony nodded, holding out his hand for Bruce to grab some of his blueberries. Almost as if he was a dog who earned a treat. Nevertheless, Bruce grabbed some from him.
"Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower," Bruce continued on, "it was still all over the news."
"The Stark Tower?" Steve made a face, "That big ugly-" Tony gave him a pointed look and Steve hide his smirk, "-Building in New York?"
"It's powered by an arc reactor, self-sustaining energy source." Bruce said, "That building will run itself for, what, a year?" He asked Tony.
"It's just a prototype." Tony said nonchalantly and then looked to Steve. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now, that's what he's getting at."
Steve looked back to Bruce, "So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they even doing in the energy business in the first place?"
"I should probably look into that as soon as my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files." Tony said as he walked over to Steve, looking down at a device in his hand.
"I'm sorry, did you say-" Steve began but Tony interrupted him.
"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. So, I suppose my chat with Agent Frost isn't necessary." He smirked and then held out the small bag in his hand, "Blueberry?" He offered.
Steve inhaled deeply, trying not to let his anger get the best of him. "-Yet, you're confused about why they didn't want you around."
Tony rolled his eyes, "An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."
Steve shook his head, "I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."
"Are you so apprehensive because of your girlfriend; Agent Frost?" Tony asked and Steve glared, "-I'm sorry, Cap – but following's not really my style. No matter how pretty she is."
Steve took a step forward into Tony's space. "And you're all about style, aren't you?" He cocked his head to look down at him.
Tony popped a blueberry into his mouth, "Out of the people in this room, which one is 'A' wearing a spangly outfit, and 'B' not of use?"
"Steve," Bruce said softly, causing Steve to look over to him. "Tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"
He trusted AJ.
He trusted SHIELD because Howard and Peggy had created it.
Steve looked back at Tony, "Just find the Cube." He told him and walked away and out of the room.
But as he was out of the lab, Steve stopped. Bruce and Tony were getting to him – he was confused. Peggy and Howard helped create something brilliant – something to help the world from ever being corrupted by Hydra again. And AJ would never join something if she didn't one hundred percent trust in her gut that it was the right thing.
He trusted AJ.
...But he didn't trust Fury.
So, he went looking for answer for questions he didn't even know yet.
_
AJ had found Natasha.
The former assassin was asked to speak with Loki by Director Fury.
"I can help." AJ had offered, but Natasha shook her head, telling AJ no.
"We both know that he knows who you are and what you can do. Stark may know who you are now, but Banner and anyone else who could be listening does not know. I won't risk your secret getting out because he wants to play mind games."
"-I,"
"Stay outside." Natasha told her. "Watch my back – if things go sideways, you'll be there to step in. But do not come in unless I give the signal."
AJ reluctantly agreed and watched the door, listening for when Natasha and Loki spoke.
It took a moment for Loki to even realize that Natasha had entered the room. And the God was quite amused by that.
"Hm. There's not many people that can sneak up on me." AJ listened to Loki say over the comm system.
"But you figured I'd come." Natasha replied.
"After." Loki said back. "After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate." He sounded amused by the mere thought.
"I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton."
"I'd say I've expanded his mind."
Natasha was quiet for only a moment, and AJ could hear the sound of feet hitting the metal of the bridge that lead to Loki's cage. She was walking up to him, "And once you've won. Once you're King of the Mountain. What happens to his mind?"
"Ooh," Loki cooed. "Is this love, Agent Romanoff?"
"Love is for children. I owe him a debt."
Loki was quiet. AJ pressed her finger to her ear to see if she was missing anything, but the God just wasn't speaking. Yet. "Tell me," He finally said, urging Natasha to tell him about the debt she owed Clint.
"Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh- well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call."
"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" Loki asked Natasha.
"Not let you out," She said in a light tone, it was her teasing tone. She used it often on AJ.
"Ah, no. But I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man?"
"Regime's fall every day." Natasha stated back, acting unaffected. "I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian. Or, I was."
"And what are you now?" Loki questioned.
"It's really not that complicated." She said, "I got red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out."
Loki was quiet, contemplating what she said, "Can you?" He asked. "Can you wipe out that much red? Drakov's daughter? Sao Paulo? The hospital fire? Barton told me everything." He was trying to shake Natasha, and she'd let him believe that he was doing just that. "Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything?" This is the basest sentimentality. This a child, a prayer. Pathetic!" He spat out in disgust. "You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you and they will never go away."
The sound of a loud bang caused AJ to jump slightly, not expecting it.
"I won't touch Barton! Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams I'll split his skull!"
AJ felt her heart racing, the blood pumping loudly in her ears.
It was trying to rile Natasha up. But it wouldn't.
It was working on AJ though, and she felt her nails dig into her palm, leaving crescent moon shapes as the penetrated her skin. Her hands felt colder and she knew that if she didn't do something soon – she wouldn't be able to control herself.
But the thought of Loki killing Clint was just about enough to send her spiraling into an absolute rage.
"This is my bargain, you mewling quim!" Loki spat out.
AJ could hear Natasha fake crying – but she kept her eyes closed and took in deep breaths, trying to not let Loki affect her. Natasha was right to have her wait outside.
"You're a monster!" Natasha said through fake sobs.
Loki chuckled, "Oh, no. You brought the monster."
There it was.
The absolute excitement in his voice when he said monster. And the way he had spoken about the cage being for someone else earlier – it was Banner he wanted.
"So, Banner." Natasha's voice was back to normal, completely unaffected. "That's your play?"
"What?" He was taken back by the sudden change in her voice. Probably her calm exterior as well.
"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, Frost and I are on our way. Send Thor as well." Said to everyone over the comm system who was listening. "Thank you," She said now, to Loki. "For your cooperation."
The doors opened and AJ could hear Loki yelling her name, "FROST!" He shouted.
Natasha grabbed her arm as soon as she walked out and kept AJ moving. "We need to get to the lab."
AJ walked, but could see out of the corner of her eye that screens had appeared on many of the doors.
VIRUS DETECTED
Dammit, Tony.
"Stark hacked into SHIELDs system." AJ said as they hurried down the corridors.
Just before they got to the lab, Thor joined them. "What's happening?" Thor asked.
"Your brother wants to unleash the Hulk." Natasha said.
"The what?"
"Banner." AJ said.
"That short man?"
"Trust me, you don't want to see him when he gets angry." Natasha said as they made it to the lab. AJ could hear Steve. He was angry.
"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit."
AJ walked over to where Steve stood, "What's going on?" She asked. But he refused to meet her eye. Something had happened.
"Did you know about this?" Banner pointed his question at Natasha.
"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha suggested. But it didn't really sound like a suggestion.
Banner laughed, "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."
"Loki is manipulating you." Natasha tried to explain, moving forward slowly.
"And you've been doing what exactly?" Bruce shot back.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha replied, annoyed.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce said back. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
AJ snapped her head in Fury's direction. "What?" She said through gritted teeth. And then a weapon on the table caught her eye. She felt her blood boil. She began to breathe heavily. Those were Hydra weapons! Why did they have them! AJ looked to Steve who still refused to meet her eyes. Did he think? "Steve, I didn't-"
"Because of him." Fury said, trying to defuse AJ from getting too upset by distracting her. The Director pointed at Thor.
"Me?" The tall muscular blonde said back in confusion.
Fury looked to everyone in the room as he spoke, "Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly-hilariously, outgunned."
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet!"
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled." Fury said back.
Control? SHIELD wanted to control people now.
What had AJ agreed to when she woke up? This whole time they had weapons from Hydra that they had planned on using. For what? Control? Because that's exactly what Hydra did! That is what Bucky died for to try and stop!
AJ closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down as she rocked back and forth on the heels of the back of her feet.
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve said in an accusing tone. It was spiteful. And AJ couldn't help but feel like it was directed at her.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies." Thor walked forward, "It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher for of war!" Thor raised his voice.
"A higher form!?" Steve shot back.
Fury interrupted Steve and directed his anger towards Thor. "-You forced our hand! We had to come up with some-"
"Nuclear deterrent!" Tony mocked. "'Cause that's what always calms everything right down"
Fury turned to look at him, "Remind me again how you made your fortune Stark?"
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep,"
"Stop." AJ whispered, trying to block out all the noise.
"-Wait-wait! Hold on! How is this now on me?" Tony asked Steve.
"I'm sorry – isn't everything?" Steve shot back.
"Stop." AJ said again.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor joined in.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury looked at Thor.
"Tis your champion!"
"You're not my champion!" Fury yelled at the God.
"Stop." AJ now pleaded. She wasn't going to be able to control herself if this kept going on.
"Are you boys really that naïve?" Natasha started in now. "SHIELD monitors potential threats."
Now they were all talking and AJ couldn't keep track of who was saying what. She just tried to focus on the sound of her own breathing. But it was too loud. And she was furious – something was happening. AJ had gotten angry before and was able to control herself but this was something entirely different. She had no control right now. Something was wrong.
AJ stumbled backwards a bit, her anger becoming overwhelming. She gripped onto the lab bench.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos!" Thor said to Fury.
"It's his MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're – we're a time bomb."
"You need to step away!" Fury said to Bruce.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony stuck up for Bruce, but it was really just to antagonize Fury.
When Tony pressed his hand on Steve's shoulder, he smacked it away. "You know damn well why! Back off!"
"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."
"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"
"Stop." AJ said again, this time a bit louder.
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."
Steve scoffed, "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy who makes the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony said back.
"Always a way out." Steve snarked. "You know, you may not be a threat, but you pretending to be a hero."
"A hero?" Tony replied, "Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came from a bottle that she helped create!" Tony pointed to AJ, his eyes wild with anger.
Steve blocked Tony's view of AJ.
"You?" Bruce looked to AJ, who was gripping onto the lab bench. She met his eyes apologetically – Bruce became the Hulk because he had tried to replicate the super soldier serum, a serum she helped create.
"I," AJ began to say but Tony interrupted her.
"Oh, please, let's hear your explanation about how you were declared dead in 1945, Agent Frost." Tony looked to AJ now, "– or how you helped create Project Rebirth with Dr. Erskine and my father. Please, share with the class. How are you here?"
Steve got in Tony's face. "Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."
Thor laughed, "You people are so petty." He said in amusement, "And tiny."
"Yeah, this is a team." AJ could hear Banner say in anger.
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-"
"Where?" Bruce shouted. "You rented my room!"
Fury sighed, "The cell was just in case-"
"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't! I know – I tried!" Banner yelled.
AJ felt her anger slowly drop – concern her only emotion now. They all looked to Banner.
"I got low. I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out." He said in disgust, "So, I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" He looked to Natasha now, but AJ and the others watched as he grabbed onto the scepter behind him, not even realizing it, "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"
AJ moved her hand to her side where her gun was strapped in a holster, Natasha and Fury did the same.
"Dr. Banner," Steve finally said. "Put down the scepter."
Bruce looked down, blinking when he saw that the spear was in his hand.
The monitor went off in the room, "Got it!" Fury said – the monitor that went off was the one Tony and Bruce had been using to try and find the Tesseract.
Bruce set the scepter back down on the table and walked over to the screen on the other side of the room.
"Sorry, kids." Bruce said, "You don't get to see my party trick after all."
They began to fight again about who would go retrieve the Tesseract, but AJ kept her eyes focused on the scepter.
That. The scepter was causing this. It had been able to brainwash Clint – who's to say it wasn't making them all so hostile just from being in its mere presence? That's why Loki didn't fight back – that's why he didn't seem to care when he was brought in. Because the scepter would be there and he knew that they would try and study it. Loki knew that it would be able to control their emotions just as it had controlled Clint and Selvigs mind!
"STOP!" AJ yelled, gaining everyone's attention. "Don't you see what's happening?" She yelled.
But Bruce took the attention away from her when he uttered the words, "Oh my God." And not even a second later, an explosion was heard all throughout the Helicarrier and they all dove for cover as the explosion reached the lab. Steve had grabbed AJ just before the blast went off in the room, throwing her out of the room so she wouldn't get hurt.
He and Tony came scrambling out of the lab moments later, both reaching for her to grab her up by her arms, dragging her away from the flames.
"No time to nap, Mee-maw," Tony said as he slung one of AJ's arms over his shoulder as Steve did the same thing with her other arm. "-I don't know exactly how you were able to stay alive – but if it will help us kick ass right now, I'm gonna need you at your best, okay?"
She nodded, head still spinning and her ears still ringing. "Go," AJ shrugged them away from her. "Go, go suit up!" She yelled. Tony went without looking back but Steve hesitated. "Steven, go!" She ordered.
He left and AJ tried to crack all her joints back in place and then made her way to the armory.
"Fury, Loki's scepter was controlling our emotions," AJ said over the comm. "-He was trying to distract us."
"You don't say, Frost." He shouted back, "Coulson – initiate defensive lock down in the contingent center. Then head to the armory."
AJ ran down the corridors, "I'm on my way to the armory now, Phil – I'll meet you there!"
There was too much chatter in her ear and AJ needed to focus. So, she grabbed her piece out of her ear and threw it while she continued to run to the armory.
She had just gotten to the armory when she heard the monstrous roar.
AJ moved her finger to her ear, forgetting that she had thrown away the ear piece out of her ear on the way to armory – Natasha was next to Bruce when the blast went off. And if The Hulk was awakened, that meant Natasha was trapped with him, "Shit!" AJ cursed.
Natasha needed her. And AJ wasn't going to leave her to die.
So, she ran out of the armory, passing Coulson on her way who had yelled her name – but AJ just ran as fast as she possible could so she could get blew deck in the engine room where Natasha and Bruce had fallen.
"Nat!" AJ screamed once she was finally in the engine room, jumping over the torn apart pieces of the helicarrier that Hulk ripped off. "Nat!" She yelled again, pushing her legs harder to jump over broken rumble to find her S.O and friend. It didn't matter to AJ if Natasha knew that SHIELD was building weapons of mass destruction or were planning on using the Cube to power some of Hydras old weapons – what mattered was finding her. "Natasha!" She screamed her name.
AJ found her hiding in a corner, rocking back and forth as her lower lip quivered.
"...Nat?" She whispered, moving to kneel in front of her. "Hey, it's okay." She tried to calm Natasha down, but she wouldn't meet her eye. "Natasha, look at me. Look at me, Romanoff." She snapped, Natasha took in a deep breath, nodding her head as she looked to AJ. "That's right – keep on breathing. That's what you and Clint always tell me, yeah? Breathe." AJ started breathing as well, "-In and out. Just like that."
She did as AJ instructed, taking deep breaths in and out.
AJ could hear a whisper of Fury's voice from the ear piece Natasha was wearing. The red head moved her shaky hand to her ear before responding. "This is Agent Romanoff. I copy." She dropped her hand and pushed herself up, Natasha looked at AJ. "We're going after Barton."
Great, AJ thought bitterly.
Natasha was clearly still shaken by her run in with the Hulk – and now they were supposed to go up against Clint, a man who had trained AJ how to fight – and the man who Natasha couldn't bear to lose.
This was going to go swell.
The two made their way back to the main engine deck, quickly, quietly. They had eyes on Clint, and the drop on him would have been absolutely delightful.
But as Clint turned on a dime, any hopes of the element of surprise vanish from AJ's mind.
Clint fired an arrow that Natasha and AJ both narrowly dodged. AJ held her breath as she watched her superiors begin to fight, not knowing how to help. She could use her powers, yes, but the last thing she wanted to do was to hurt Natasha. And she was in the line of fire. AJ couldn't risk it.
AJ ran past as Nat and Clint slid through the beams. She followed, Natasha wasn't in the way – and no one was around to risk her being exposed. So, AJ opened her palm and did something she had only ever practiced, she fired off a ray of ice at Clint's back. He turned and smashed through it with his bow, before stepping forward and engaging AJ. She ducked as the bow swung overhead, completing a full 360 and hitting Natasha back on its way around. They jumped to another platform as Clint fired off another arrow. Natasha kicked out, sending Clint staggering forward. AJ caught the bowstring, but her former SO pulled back and let go, the shaft hitting her squarely between the eyes. As AJ rubbed her nose, Clint had pulled out a knife and was fighting with Natasha.
It wasn't going well.
Natasha was in full defense mode as Clint swung and jabbed forward. AJ watched as one strike flew overhead. Natasha caught Clint's arm, but he dropped the blade into his other hand and began another onslaught of attacks. The two got caught in a deadlock moments later, the knife inches away from Natasha's nose as Clint pushed it closer...closer...
AJ began to panic, she kicked out her feet, buckling Clint's knees causing the archer to fall forward, head smacking squarely into the metal guardrail. The resounding clang was loud and echo-y. When Clint started to get up, his eyes focused between the two girls, the glowing blue of his eyes fading away.
He was back.
"AJ...?" He breathed out, "Natasha...?"
Before he could say anything else, Natasha punched him in the nose, knocking him out.
She couldn't help it when the corners of her lips quirked up, "Nice." AJ commented, as she wiped at her bloody nose, leaving a red stain under her nose and a streak of blood on the back of her hand.
"Thanks." Natasha said, looking over at AJ. "I'm pretty sure that he broke your nose."
AJ simply shrugged. "Pretty sure you broke his too."
She expected Natasha to smirk, but she kept her expression serious, "You used your powers."
AJ nodded.
It was a first.
Natasha didn't say anything else about it.
"I'm going to go make sure Steve didn't do anything stupid...like die." AJ said to Natasha, "You good with him?"
Natasha finally smirked, lifting her chin to tell AJ to go find Steve.
She left, hands shaking, feeling a little out of control. She had used her powers on another human. She had used her powers on Clint. She opened and closed her hands, trying to compose herself. But she was feeling everything too strongly. She could feel the chill in her body, the cold that was pumping through her veins – she needed to find Steve.
Because if she didn't find him soon, her mind would run wild with thoughts of him being dead and she would absolutely lose control of the little composure that she maintained right now.
Seeing that Steve was alive would keep her from exploding like she felt like she was going to.
The last time she had felt this way was when Peggy and the Howling Commandos found her. How her powers were out of control trying to save her life but AJ's body was refusing. She felt the same way she had been feeling just before she yelled at Peggy and The Howling Commandos to get back and away from her – how she felt a burst of cold leave her body and her cell became covered with frozen crystals.
She just needed to get to Steve. AJ cursed herself for throwing out her earpiece – if she was still connected to the comm system, at least she'd know if Steve was alive.
_
Steve had been searching for AJ. The engine was repaired, Hulk and Thor were missing, and Loki escaped. Many were injured, multiple were dead. Including Agent Phil Coulson. The man who had been so kind, who had been so excited to meet Steve, a friend of AJ's had been killed by Loki.
"Agent Coulson is down." Steve had heard over the comm system.
"A medical team is on it's way to your location."
"They're here...they called it."
Did AJ know?
Was she even alive?
He had gone to Fury, asking if he had seen or heard from AJ, that she wasn't answering through the comm system. Fury had a grim look on his face and shook his head. Steve explained that he had looked all over for her but couldn't find her.
"If she's alive," Fury said, making Steve's stomach drop, "She'll find you."
Tony was with Steve, waiting to see if AJ would show up. He apologized for his behavior towards AJ – none of that mattered now. Coulson was dead and anything else wasn't important. "I'm letting it go." Tony said, sitting next to Steve at the table they had all gathered around earlier.
Steve sat still, trying not to get too in his head about AJ and his fear that she had been one of the casualties. And just when he felt like he was going to lose it, AJ appeared and he could finally breathe.
"Jay!" Steve said, jumping out of his chair and running over to her. He saw the bloodstain under her noise and the bruising that was appearing under her eyes. He took her face in his hands once they were in front of each other and he examined her for any more injuries, "I thought you were dead!" He breathed out, his eyes focusing on hers. "You didn't answer through the comms when I was calling for you-"
AJ stopped him from going on, moving her hands to his, pulling them away from her face. "I'm fine." She assured him. "Everything was so chaotic and loud and I couldn't hear myself think – so I took out the ear piece. I'm sorry." She apologized, still holding onto his hands. AJ closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I'm just so glad that you're alive."
Steve dropped her hands and moved forward, pulling her to him and hugged onto her tightly.
"Barton is back," She said, her words muffled a bit by his shirt, "-Natasha and I kicked his ass." AJ chuckled, "But we got him back."
She was too happy – or relieved.
Steve stiffened. AJ didn't know about Coulson. He should have put two and two together when she told him she had thrown out her earpiece but he was just so blinded with relief that she was standing in front of him and was alive that he didn't realize that there was no way AJ could have heard about Coulson.
"Jay," He said softly, pulling back a bit and dropping his arms from around her.
"Did Thor manage to get Bruce back to being Bruce? Natasha said Thor came in just at the right time to toss Hulk away from her."
Steve swallowed hard as he looked down at AJ.
"What is it?" She asked, "Why are you looking at me like that – what's with the face?" She took a step back from Steve. It was as if she was anticipating a blow.
"Thor and Banner are missing."
"MIA or presumed dead?" She asked, folding her arms over her chest.
"Banner, Hulk, jumped off the helicarrier to attack a fighter jet that was shooting at him and went down with the jet." Steve explained.
"The pilot?" AJ asked.
"He's alive."
She nodded her head, "And Thor?"
Steve licked at his lips, "Loki got out." He told her and he watched as AJ's eyes widened. "Somehow he got Thor trapped in the sky cell and Loki dropped it from the Helicarrier."
AJ let out a quick breath and covered her mouth with her hand while she shook her head. "That son of a bitch," She said, dropping her hand and looking back at Steve. "Where is Loki now?"
"He fled." Steve told her. God, he really didn't want to say what he was going to say next.
But he didn't have to. Tony walked up to them, "He fled right after he killed Agent Coulson," He said in a rough tone. He then patted AJ's shoulder, "Nice to see you alive."
Steve felt the air change, the cold air was like a slap to his face, and he wasn't the only one who felt it. The people in the area began to look around to see where the cold air was coming from – they didn't know it was AJ.
"Jay," He said softly, trying to calm her down.
She was breathing hard, in and out, in and out.
"Stark, you need to get out of here." Steve said, keeping his eyes focused on AJ while he spoke to Tony.
"-Why?" Tony said, looking around for the source of cold air. "And did the air condition just turn on? It's a bit nippy."
Steve watched as little clouds of cold mist seeped out of AJ's hands that were violently shaking. "Adelyn, look at me." He said in a stern voice.
But before he knew it, her eyes glazed over and the green had disappeared, only white orbs staring back at him. And before he could do anything, he and Tony were sent flying back by a burst of cold air and the areas around them were covered in ice.
AJ collapsed.
"Well," Steve heard Tony say from behind as he got up and ran to AJ. Steve checked her pulse and let out a sigh of relief, her heart was still beating. Tony was next to him now, having crawled over to where Steve was, both looking down at AJ, "Dad never told me she could do that."
