In the lab Artemis and Bruce were starting the trace "SHIELD scientist suck so it's gonna be a while before all the spectrometers and calibrate them" Artemis said "but I have one at the mansion that's already been calibrated"
Bruce nodded then looked at Peter who was messing with a gadget "is that safe" he asked
Artemis looked over to him "like I said a second ago, SHIELD scientist suck" she shrugged "it won't hurt him, he's use to things exploding"
Bruce looked warily "so how do you control the big guy" Artemis asked "yoga, meditation, weed"
Bruce shook his head with a small smile "you're not like other women" he said
"That a good thing" Artemis smirked
Bruce nodded chuckling so Artemis smiled seeing the doctor loosen up
She looked up when the lab door open and held back a groan seeing a non-wanted blonde "Morse, I don't think your IQ is high enough to be in here" she said
"Oh shut it Carbonell" Morse snapped "you just like any other rich girl wanting men they can't have but when you get them you throw them aside"
Artemis looked confused "what the hell are you talking about Morse" she said going to stand in front of her
Morse sneered "Clint" she said
"What about Hawkeye, I haven't seen or heard from since he went to New Mexico" Artemis asked
Morse looked at her with a glared then left "Bitch" Artemis said going back to Bruce
"What was that about" he asked
"Barton's girlfriend" Artemis said
"Barton the agent that's been compromised" Bruce stated and Art nodded.
Artemis looked up when the announcement went out that Loki had been brought on board
"Peter, hide and seek" Artemis said and Peter smiled hiding a second later
Bruce looked up from the tracking device and towards the window and saw Loki being escorted by 12 armed guards.
Loki looked into the lab and smirked causing Artemis to glare
Artemis put a finger to her com (which she put in on the way to the carrier) after Loki disappeared around the corner "Agent Carbonell, you and Dr. Banner to report to the control room" Hill voice said
"Roger that" Artemis said taking her finger away from her ear
"They need us in control room" she said and Bruce nodded
"Peter" she called making the toddler stand up and waddle over to them
Peter tugged on Bruce's legs and held his arms up "up" he called
Bruce looked at Artemis who was already at the door "I would, you don't want him to start pouting" she laugh
Bruce hesitated but picked Peter up and Peter went right for the glasses "yeah he does that a lot" Artemis said leading them to the control room
Artemis took Peter from Bruce before they entered the room "hunka, hunka" Artemis muttered sitting down between Nat and Salt
They ignored her used to her comments, knowing they usually don't mean anything
A video appeared on the table showing Loki, who was in a glass cell and Fury by the control panel
"In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass" here Fury paused to hit the red button in the center of the panel and the floor beneath the cell opened up.
"It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap, you get how that works?" Fury continued shouting over the sound of the wind rushing into the helicarrier.
Once he was sure he had gotten his point across Fury closed over the floor again before gesturing first at Loki "ant" he then pointed to the control panel "boot"
Loki stepped back into the middle of the cell chuckling "it's an impressive cage" he admitted "Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury told him.
"Oh, I've heard," Loki said turning to face the security camera. "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man."
Artemis looked over at Bruce who had his arms crossed and looked unimpressed, she didn't even know about the cell being for Bruce.
"How desperate are you that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki continued
"How desperate am I?" Fury said incredulously, "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control."
"You talk about peace and you kill cause it's fun," Fury continued, "You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."
"Ooh," Loki said clearly not impressed by Fury's little speech, "It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share"
Artemis set up straight and frowned at that seeing the look Loki threw the camera when he said that last part
"And then to be reminded what real power is," Loki concluded.
Fury scoffed and began to walk out of the room. "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something," he quipped.
Artemis lips quirked at that
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce quipped when the video cut off
"Loki's gonna drag this out" Steve predicted, "So, Thor, what's his play?"
"He has an army called the Chitauri," Thor informed the group, "They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth in return, I expect, for the Tesseract."
"An army…" Steve said skeptically, "…from outer space."
"Get with the times, Cap" Nikko smirked from behind him
"So, he's building another portal," Bruce deduced, "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."
"Selvig?" Thor questioned clearly shocked to be hearing the name.
"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce explained.
"He's a friend," Thor replied simply.
"Loki's got him under some sort of spell, along with one of ours" Artemis said bouncing Peter on her knee
"I want to know why Loki let us take him," Steve brought up "he's not leading an army from here."
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce suggested, "that guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him."
"Have care how you speak," Thor said imperiously, "Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."
"He killed 80 people in two days," Natasha said disbelievingly
"He's adopted," Thor was quick to point out upon hearing this
"It think it's about the mechanics" Bruce theorized "Iridium… what do they need the iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent," Artemis and Tony, who just walked in with Coulson, said together
Tony then turned to Coulson and said something to him
"It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD," Tony explained before pausing next to Thor patting his arm "no hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing"
"Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants." Artemis finished as Tony walked to the computers
"Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails," Tony said looking at the computers "That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice but we did" he exclaimed pointing at a SHIELD agent sitting in the last row.
Steve looked around then at Nikko and Grammy who shook their heads, Galaga wasn't important.
Tony frowned and briefly covered his left eye with his hand and glanced at the computers before asking "How does Fury even see these?"
"He turns," Agent Hill said exasperatedly.
"Sounds exhausting," Tony joked
Artemis passed Peter to Nat and joined her brother at the computers
"The rest of the raw materials" Artemis continued "Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily"
Tony began clearing things from the screens to have something to do with his hands as his sister talked, "The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kick-start the Cube."
While everyone was listening to Artemis, Tony slipped a tiny device onto a computer
"When did you two become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked.
"Last night," Tony clarified, "the packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Are we the only ones who did the reading?"
Steve looked between then amazed at how they looked like Howard and Maria standing side by side like that
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked still freaked how the siblings looked like their parents
"He would have to heat the Cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce said suddenly butting in.
"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony said walking forward visibly thrilled that someone understood what he's had been saying that wasn't his sister
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Bruce replied.
"Finally, someone who speaks English, that's not related to me" Tony said pleased going over to Bruce
Salt looked between the three scared already seeing it's gonna be more trouble for her, Nat patted her back feeling sorry for her.
"Is that what just happened?" Steve muttered sarcastically.
Tony and Bruce shook hands as Tony said, "It's good to meet you Dr. Banner. Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster."
Bruce looked between the siblings and smiled bewildered "thanks"
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," Fury said as he walked in "I was hoping you might join him and Agent Carbonell."
"I would start with that stick of his," Steve recommended, "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
Nikko and Grammy nodded agreeing with him
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube," Fury said "and I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
Artemis clenched her fist at the reminder
"Monkeys? I do not understand," Thor said confused.
"I do," Steve blurted out, "I understood that reference."
"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony said turning to Bruce obviously fed up with the idle chatter.
"This way" Bruce said pointing down the corridor.
Fury watched them leave "why do I feel like this is gonna come back and bit me in the ass"
Nikko smirked "because it is" she laughed
"Great, more paperwork" Fury muttered going to his station "and who the hell is playing Galaga"
Fury looked around for where the sounds were coming from "boy, do we or do we not have a global crisis right now" he said looking at the tech "now is not the time to Fucking Galaga"
Salt stood in front of some windows watching the clouds pass "beautiful isn't it" Steve said joining her
Salt glanced at him "yeah" she said going back to looking at the sky
"So how did a dame like you get into this" Steve asked and Salt raised an eyebrow "I mean, lady"
Salt laughed at that "I'm actually related to someone from your old team" she said.
Steve looked at her shocked "who" he asked
"You have to figure that out" Salt said walking away
Grammy shook her head watching her granddaughter tease her cousin "I love my goddaughter" Nikko laughed having heard what Salt said to Steve
"She gets it from her grandpa" Grammy said
"You were pretty mischievous" Nikko argued "you did torture that poor boy that was you're apprentice"
"Either I did it or the team plus Maria and you did it" Grammy shrugged
"True" Nikko nodded
Artemis set in the lab as Bruce was scanning Loki's scepter. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract" Bruce confirmed, "but it's going to take weeks to process."
Tony simply shrugged this off turning to a Stark Industries computer screen he had brought in "If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster," he explained typing the password to access the screen in, "we can clock this at around 600 teraflops."
"All I packed was a toothbrush," Bruce laughed.
"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime," Tony suggested, "Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it. It's Candy Land."
"Or the mansion, that has huge lab that you can blow stuff up in" Artemis smiled
"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem," Bruce said hesitantly "plus I try to avoid explosions
Artemis shrugged "Well, we promise a stress-free environment," she said.
"No tension, no surprises," Tony continued before using the electrified stick in his hands to poke Bruce.
"Ow!" Bruce shouted clearly shocked that someone had decided to do that to him of all people.
"Hey!" Steve shouted as he came into the room but the siblings blatantly ignored him keeping their focus on Bruce saying, "Nothing?"
"Are you two nuts?" Steve said trying to get their attention.
"Jury's out," Tony said simply as Bruce turned back to his work openly chuckling, "you really have got a lid on it, haven't you?"
"What's your secret?" Tony asked "Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"
"You two are too much alike" Bruce muttered causing the siblings to smirk
"Is everything a joke to you two" Steve asked incredulously.
"Funny things are," Artemis stated.
"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny" Steve said before quickly adding, "No offense Doc."
"It's all right," Bruce muttered, "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things," as he said that he threw the siblings a significant look.
"You're tip-toeing big man," Tony said trying to salvage the situation, "you need to strut."
"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Steve snapped.
"Do you think I'm not?" Tony asked, "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."
"He's a spy," Ton said "Captain, he's 'the' spy. His secrets have secrets," in between words he threw a blueberry into his mouth "the only reasons I know most of Artemis's secrets is because she's my sister"
Artemis nodded at that then pointed to Bruce "it's bugging him, too. Isn't it?"
"Uh…" Bruce said hesitantly "I just want to finish my work here, and…"
"Doctor?" Steve interrupted
Bruce gave the siblings a nervous glance before sighing and removing his glasses. "'A warm light for all mankind,'" he quoted, "Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube."
"I heard it," Steve said.
"Well, I think that was meant for you two" Bruce said turning back to the siblings, Tony simply offered him a blueberry.
Taking it Bruce continued "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."
"The Stark Tower? That big, ugly," Steve's tone was humorous until he was met with a glare from Artemis and a blank look from Tony so he hastened to finish, "building in New York."
"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source," Bruce informed him, "that building will run itself for, what, a year?"
"It's just the prototype," Tony confirmed before turning to Steve, "we're kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."
"So," Bruce said getting to his last point, "why didn't SHIELD bring them in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"
"I know why on me" Artemis said making the three look at her "I have a friend that the Council doesn't like at all"
"That does not surprise me" Tony pointed out "I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files," Tony said walking around the lab bench and pulling out a miniature computer screen from his pocket
"I'm sorry. Did you say…?" Steve said clearly taken aback
"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge," Tony interrupted, "in a few hours; I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?"
Artemis took the bag from her brother and started eating the fruit
"Yet, you're confused about why they didn't want you around," Steve said pointedly ignoring the offer.
"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome," Tony pointed out "plus me and Artemis are a team you can't get one without the other"
"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," Steve retorted, "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."
"Following's not really my style," Tony said stealing his blueberries back from his sister
"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve jibed.
"Of the people in this room, which one is A) wearing a spangly outfit, and, B) not of use?" Tony retorted. "
"Steve," Bruce intervened before Steve could retort "tell me none of this smells a little funky to you."
"Just find the Cube," Steve said as he walked out.
"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony muttered bitterly to Bruce, "I'm wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."
"Huh," Bruce said in acknowledgement and began to work once more, "the guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us."
"What he's got is an Acme dynamite kit," Tony said making his way back over to the Stark Industries screen, "it's going to blow up in his face. And I'm going to be there when it does."
"Yeah. I'll read all about it," Bruce said sliding some information across to Tony's screen.
"Uh-huh," Artemis said skeptically, "or you'll be suiting up with the rest of us."
Bruce let out a nervous chuckle before responding, "You see, I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed. Like a nerve. It's a nightmare."
"You know" Tony said, "I've got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart."
"Tony quit talking about it" Artemis snapped, she hates hearing about the shrapnel.
"This stops it," he continued tapping the arc reactor while ignoring his and made his way over to Bruce, "This little circle of light, it's part of me now, not just armor."
Toni was now standing directly opposite Bruce on the other side of the computer screen, "it's a terrible privilege," he said as Artemis appeared beside him
"But you can control it," Bruce pointed out.
"Because I learned how," Tony emphasized.
"It's different," Bruce said shrugging his comments off and attempting to go back to working with the computer but Artemis wasn't having any of that.
Artemis cleared the data on the screen away to the side so Bruce had to look directly at them and said, "Hey, I read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."
"So you're saying that the Hulk…" Bruce began.
Bruce looked down as he realized his slip of the tongue and corrected himself, "the other guy saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"
"I guess we'll find out," Tony said simply before walking back over to her own computer screen as Bruce brought back up the data on his.
"You two may not enjoy that," Bruce warned.
"And you just might," Artemis retorted quickly as they returned to work.
Thor stood staring out the window when he felt a tug on his pants so he looked down
He smiled "hello tiny Midgardian" he said picking the baby up
The baby laughed "utty" the baby said patting Thor's hair causing the god to laugh
Salt looked up from her tablet when she heard Peter's laugh knowing everyone that he behaviors for is busy. She smiled seeing Thor playing with Peter "that baby is going to be the most protect baby" she muttered "and the most spoilt"
A little while later Salt stood walked over to them "I can take him for you Thor" she smiled
Thor looked at her "thank you Lady Salt" he said handing the baby to her "May I ask who the baby belongs to"
Salt nodded "follow me and I'll tell you"
Thor followed her out of the room after Salt grabbed her tablet and Salt began telling Thor about Peter
Thor nodded "it is noble of the Lady Artemis to take one not her own" he said
Salt nodded with a smile
Artemis looked up when Fury barged into the lab immediately addressing Tony, "what are you doing, Stark?"
"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you," Tony retorted.
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract," Fury snapped
Bruce was the one who replied, "We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile," Bruce indicated a screen across the room that was clearly tracking something.
"Yeah, then you get your Cube back," Tony said with a slight scoff on the word 'your' "no muss, no fuss," the screen beeped and Artemis turned back to it, "what is 'Phase 2.'"
There was a loud bang as a gun was slammed down on a lab table and Steve spoke angrily, "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the Cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract," Fury said attempting to save the situation, "This does not mean that we're making…"
Artemis however intervened and scampered his plan, "I'm sorry, Nick," she spun the screen around which had obviously finished hacking into SHIELD's systems and was displaying schematics, "What were you lying?"
"I was wrong, Director," Steve said bitterly, "the world hasn't changed a bit," as he was saying this both Thor and Natasha entered the lab assembling all the current Avengers.
"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Natasha clearly upset.
"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha asked coldly.
"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed," Bruce scoffed.
"Loki is manipulating you," Natasha warned.
"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Bruce asked incredulously.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha pointed out.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy," Bruce said walking over to the screen Artemis had the weapons display on, "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
"Because of him," Fury relented pointing at Thor.
"Me?" Thor questioned clearly unsure how the conversation had somehow ended up being related to him.
Fury began to make a speech, "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," Thor said trying to reason with Fury.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Fury retorted, "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled," as he said this he gave the siblings a specific look.
Artemis glared
"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve asked.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies," Thor accused, "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."
"A higher form?" Steve questioned
Fury's comment cut him off "You forced our hand. We had to come up with something."
"A nuclear deterrent," Tony snapped out, "Because that always calms everything right down."
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark," Fury jibed.
"If you idiots just left that stupid cube alone it wouldn't have caused all this trouble" Artemis growled
"I'm sure if she still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep…" Steve began.
"Wait, wait! Hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony asked.
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve jibed.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor said.
"Excuse me," Fury said offended, "did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"
"If the Council could, they would" Artemis snapped
"You treat your champions with such mistrust," Thor said
"Are you boys really that naïve?" Natasha asked, "SHIELD monitors potential threats."
"Captain America's on threat watch," Bruce scoffed.
"We all are," Natasha confirmed.
"I don't see why, I'm on they I'm semi-loyal to SHIELD" Artemis said
"Oh, you know why you're on there Carbonell, being as smart as you are and being close friends with Winter Soldier" Fury snapped
"Wait, you're on that list?" Tony laughed looking at Steve, "Are you above or below angry bees?"
"Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack…" Steve threatened.
"Threat! Verbal threat. I feel threatened," Tony said
"Show some respect," Steve snapped.
"Respect what?" Tony asked as the arguments throughout the room escalated.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor pointed out.
"That's his M.O., isn't it?" Bruce asked rhetorically, "I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're… we're a time bomb."
"You need to step away," Fury snapped even though Bruce was notably the calmest person in the room at that point.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked clearly puzzled.
"You know damn well why. Back off," Steve said brushing Toni's hand off his shoulder.
"I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony snapped
"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor," Steve said coldly, "Take that off, what are you?"
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Tony said simply.
Natasha nodded at that
"I know people with none of that worth ten of you," Steve said plainly, "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the person to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
Artemis glared "you're gonna believe some stupid footage that doesn't even show everything"
"I think I would just cut the wire," Tony said stopping his sister
"Always a way out," Steve said with a sarcastic smile.
Tony stood in front of Artemis so she won't go after his childhood hero
"You know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero," Steve said
"A hero? Like you?" Tony said finally snapping completely, "You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."
Steve was staring down Tony "Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds."
Thor seemed to find this immensely funny as he started to laugh darkly, "You people are so petty and tiny."
"Yeah, this is a team," Bruce said sarcastically.
"Agent Romanoff would you escort Dr. Banner back to his…" Fury began trying to soothe things over but only alienating Bruce more.
"Where? You rented my room," Bruce said angrily.
"The cell was just in case…" Fury tried to recover once more.
"In case you needed to kill me," Bruce enunciated carefully, "But you can't. I know, I tried," seeing the looks of shock on most people's faces he continued in a softer tone, "I got low. I didn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it out.
Artemis looked at Bruce sympathizing with him, she was in a bad place to until she recruit Clint.
"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. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?" His eyes were beginning to flicker green as his anger only increased.
Fury's hand reached for his gun as he got nervous and he flipped down the band that was holding it in place.
"Dr. Banner," Steve said having been distracted from his argument with Tony and Artemis "put down the scepter." Bruce somewhere in the middle of his rant had picked up Loki's scepter.
Bruce looked down at it amazed
Suddenly the computer tracking the Tesseract found the signal and began to beep loudly, "got it," Artemis confirmed as Bruce put down the scepter. "Sorry, kids," he said sarcastically walking over to the screen, "you don't get to see my party trick after all."
"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked making his way over along with Natasha.
"If you tell me where it is we've got the fastest air speed," Tony said fully ready to rush out of the lab along with Artemis
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it," Thor boomed indignantly.
"You two are not going alone," Steve said darkly attempting to grab a hold of Tony's arm but he automatically slapped it away.
"You're gonna stop us," Tony scoffed
"Put on the suit, let's find out," Steve reiterated
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man," Tony jibed.
"Put on the suit," Steve insisted.
Bruce removed his glasses in shock as he stared at the Tesseract's location on the grid, "Oh, my god," he said softly. Then all hell broke as there was a huge explosion that went through the lab knocking everyone back
next chapter is gonna be all the action so it might take a while for it to be out