Chapter Eight

"Hill?" I heard Director Fury over the comms.

"External detonation. Number three engine is down… Somebody's got to get outside and patch that engine."

"Stark, Olson, you copy that?"

Mr. Stark looked to me and I nodded.

"We're on it," Mr. Stark informed Director Fury.

"Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section then get to the armory. Romanoff?"

"Let's go. Level 4," some agents were saying as Captain Rogers, Mr. Stark and I passed by them.

"Engine three," I told Mr. Stark. "We'll see you there."

He nodded and walked off, and I took Captain Rogers' arm and apparated us to the door that would get us to the engine. When we got there, it looked like it didn't even phase him. Must be the serum.

"Stark! Stark, we're here!" Captain Rogers yelled out.

"That was quick but good," Mr. Stark answered as he flew into our view. "Let's see what we've got. I got to get this superconducting coolant system back online before I can access the rotors, work on dislodging the debris."

As he was talking to himself, I saw Mr. Stark shift something around.

"I need one you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position."

"You go," I said to Captain Rogers, "I'll stay down here."

He nodded before jumping to the panel and pulling it out.

"What does it look like in there?" Mr. Stark asked him.

"It seems to run on some form of electricity," Captain Rogers answered.

"He's not wrong," I said.

"Okay, the relays are intact," Captain Rogers informed Mr. Stark a couple of minutes later. "What's our next move?"

"Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump. I'm going to have to get in there and push."

"Mr. Stark you can't," I cried.

"If that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded," Captain Rogers agreed.

"That stator control unit can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that could…"

"Speak English!"

"Captain, there's a red lever near you," I started. "It will slow the rotors down long enough for Mr. Stark to get out."

"Stand by the lever. Wait for my word," Mr. Stark told Captain Rogers.

"We've got men moving our way," I informed Captain Rogers.

As I was informing Captain Rogers of our dilemma, I saw debris falling from the rotor.

"Captain, one of them has a grenade," I told him.

After the man threw it, I saw Captain Rogers jump and hit it out of the way so it wouldn't do any more damage. He then jumped to where the men were and started knocking them out. I joined him.

"Get back up to the lever," I told him before I spotted more men coming.

He nodded and jumped back up as I threw a gun towards the oncoming men.

A few moments later, I got shot in the leg. I fell to the ground and moved out of view from any men that could be heading this way.

"Captain," I started, "you're on your own for now."

"What happened?" he asked.

"I got shot in the leg, and I need a minute or two to heal myself."

"What? Okay." I could hear the confusion in his voice.

Just then I felt as the helicarrier started to descend from the sky and lean one way.

"It's Barton," I heard Director Fury over my earpiece. "He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?"

"This is Agent Romanoff," I heard her start, "I copy."

"Come on Mr. Stark," I said to him.

"I'm working on it," he responded.

A few seconds later, I heard Director Fury again. Only this time he was talking to Mr. Stark.

"Stark, we're losing altitude."

"Yeah, I noticed," I heard him grunt back to Director Fury.

As I was working on my leg, I could see the bullets as Captain Rogers was hitting men who were trying to keep up from getting the engine running again. It seemed like they were trying to do that anyway.

"Captain, what happened?" I asked when I saw him holding onto a cord to keep from falling from the helicarrier.

"I backed up too far trying to shot the other guys," he replied.

"Cap," I heard Mr. Stark say, "hit the lever."

"I need a minute here!" Captain Rogers cried out.

"Lever now!"

"I've got it!" I informed them.

I apparated to the lever, but a man started shooting in this direction. At the same time, Captain Rogers pulled himself up. I cast a spell at the man, not Captain Rogers obviously, before pulling the lever.

I guess I didn't pull it soon enough, as I heard Mr. Stark say "Help" over the comms just a few seconds earlier.

There must have been a man out of our eye sights, as we saw, and heard, Mr. Stark fly into the guys.

"Agent Coulson is down," Director Fury informed us over our earpieces.

"A medical team is on it's way to your location," I heard one guy say.

"They're here. They called it."

"No," I gasped to myself, leaning on the wall next to me and sinking to my knees.

A few minutes later, we were sitting in the bridge.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Director Fury started talking, holding up Agent Coulson's trading cards.

I frowned, remembering him telling me that he kept them in his locker.

"I guess he never did get you to sign them."

He tossed the cards onto the table.

When I saw them, I noticed they were covered in blood. Captain Rogers picked one up. I took out my wand, after looking around the room, which was empty except for some agents that I recognized to be wizards, and started to clean the cards of the blood.

"We're dead in the air up here," Director Fury continued talking, ignoring me as I cleaned the cards. "Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner, Thor… I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye."

He paused before continuing.

"Maybe I had that coming."

Another pause.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though because I was playing something even riskier."

He paused again.

"There was an idea, Stark and Olson know this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see of the could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could."

He paused once again and looked over at Mr. Stark, who turned his head further away.

"Phil Coulon died still believing in that idea. In heroes."

As soon as Director Fury ended his last sentence, Mr. Stark stood up and walked out.

"Well, it's an old-fashioned notion."

Captain Rogers looked at me and motioned for me to follow him. I looked to Director Fury, who just nodded.

I followed him to the room where the glass cage had been.

"Was he married?" Captain Rogers asked.

"No," Mr. Stark answered. "There was a cellist, I think."

"There was," I confirmed.

"I'm sorry," Captain Rogers said. "He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot," Mr. Stark replied back.

I inhaled.

"Why? For believing?" Captain Rogers questioned.

"For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job," I informed him.

"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have…"

"Sometimes there isn't a way-out Tony," Captain Rogers told him, walking closer to Mr. Stark.

"Right, I've heard that before."

Mr. Stark started to walk past.

"Is this the first time you lost a soldier?"

"We are not soldiers," Mr. Stark declared, turning around. "I'm not marching into Fury's fife."

"Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now, we got to put that behind us and get this done. Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list…"

"He made it personal," Mr. Stark interrupted him.

"That's not the point."

"What if that is the point?" I asked.

"It is the point," Mr. Stark said. "That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart," Captain Rogers answered.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great but he knows he has to take us out to win, right?"

"Are you saying you think that's what he wants?" I asked Mr. Stark.

"Yes," he answered me before he continued to talk. "He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it."

"He wants an audience," I concluded.

Mr. Stark pointed to me as if agreeing and started walking past Captain Rogers.

"Right," Captain Rogers said. "I caught his act in Stuttgart."

"Yeah," Mr. Stark said, "that was just the previews. This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered…"

"Mr. Stark, that sounds like your tower," I told him.

"Son of a bitch," he said when the realization hit him.

He started walking away before turning around to face me.

"You have mystic mojo stuff, right?"

"You mean magic? Then, yes," I answered.

"You should join us in New York. And feel free to call me Tony."

"Okay," I said.

"Then suit up," Captain Rogers told me.