Hellooooooooooooooooooooo everyone! Here is chapter four!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, only my OCs.
To Guest Reviewer: Troy and Chaos will not have an arch enemy or route gallery. They will be siding with Steve in CW, since they aren't the type to give in to the government. They will not be worthy of Thor's hammer, though they will try to pull it in the party scene of AOU. Troy's love interest is Rachel McKnight, another OC, and she will appear after the battle of New York when she and Troy reunite.
ENJOY!
Helicarrier
After Thor had slammed his hammer on Steve's shield, which wiped out a portion of the forest, the four heroes came to an understanding. Thor took Loki from Chaos and the group re-entered the quinjet. The rest of the trip went on silence, all of them too tense to speak, with Thor watching over his brother. The thunder god was a bit surprised to see a Klyntar here on Earth, but he chose to not speak on the matter, for they had far more important things to focus on.
Upon their arrival on the helicarrier, a heavily armored and fully armed squadron was waiting for them. Said squadron then took Loki into their custody and escorted the god to a specialized cell. Along the way, the group passed by a lab Bruce was working in, and he felt unnerved as Loki grinned at him mischievously.
Steve, Troy, Bruce, Thor, and Natasha had gathered in the bridge, with the super soldier, the host, and the widow sitting at the conference table, watching a live video feed of Loki's cell. Thor stood on the other side of the table with his back to it, and Bruce stood one on side of the room. "In case it's unclear." They heard Fury's voice off screen. "You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass." There was the sound of air rushing loudly. "Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" Fury shouted over the noise before it suddenly stopped. "Ant. Boot."
"What was that about?" Chaos asked curiously.
"No idea." Troy answered.
"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki remarked wily.
"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury retorted.
"Oh, I've heard." Loki replied lightly before looking into the camera within the cell. "The mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man." Bruce shifted uncomfortably as the god went on. "How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"
"How desperate am I?" Fury repeated. "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." The director stood before the god, the glass wall standing between them. "You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."
"Ooh." Loki cooed tauntingly. The god smirked mockingly as he continued, "It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what?" He scoffed as he looked back at the camera. "A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is."
The god turned back to Fury with a glare. The director was silent for a few seconds. "Well let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something." With that, Fury left the detention center.
Troy narrowed his eyes as he watched Loki gaze directly into the camera within the cell before the feed suddenly cut. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce said sarcastically.
Troy grimaced. "Loki's gonna drag this out." Steve pointed out before he looked at the Thor. "So, Thor, what's his play?"
The thunder god responded slowly as he turned to face them, "He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
"An army, from outer space?" Steve stated skeptically. Natasha lowered her eyes in irritation.
"Hey, is it really that hard to believe after you saw an alien form out of me?" Troy asked.
Steve sighed. "Alright, you got me there." He admitted as Maria joined them, standing in the outskirts.
"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Bruce said thoughtfully.
"Selvig?" Thor repeated.
"He's astrophysicist." Bruce explained.
"He's a friend." Thor replied quickly. One of the first friends he had made shortly after arriving on Earth for the first time.
"Loki has him under some spell, along with one of ours." Natasha chimed in. It destroyed her when she found out Clint was at the museum, that she just missed him.
"A spell? Like Harry Potter?" Chaos blurted out.
"I think we need to focus on why Loki let us take him." Troy pointed out, ignoring the symbiote.
"Because he's not leading an army from here." Steve added in agreement.
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Bruce said. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him."
"Have care how you speak." Thor advised sharply, giving Bruce a look. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother." The thunder god add firmly.
"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha informed dryly.
Thor paused. "He's adopted." He muttered.
"Maybe that's why Loki's gone off the deep end." Chaos suggested slyly. "He found out he's adopted and wants the world to feel his pain."
"Come on, man." Troy thought in exasperation. "Not even Zack would go that far, and I've heard him say some pretty nasty shit."
"Well, I'm not Zack." Chaos fired back.
"I think it's about the mechanics." Bruce's voice brought an end to Troy and Chaos' conversation. "Iridium, what did they need the iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent." Everyone turned to the entrance to see Tony walk in with Coulson. The two exchanged more words before Coulson walked off. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHEILD." He added to Thor, "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He patted the thunder god on the arm, and Thor watched him in confusion. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants."
Tony then walked onto the bridge control center, where Fury normally stands. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails." He suddenly said. The agents glanced at the man as if he were a maniac. "That man is playing GALAGA!" Tony pointed to the right side of the room. Steve looked confused. Troy raised both his brows. Natasha and Maria were unimpressed. "Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."
"Is this guy serious?" Chaos asked his host.
"That's Tony Stark for you." Troy replied.
Tony then looked at many screens around him. He placed a hand over his left eye, imitating Fury. "How does Fury even see these?" He asked incredulously.
"He turns." Maria responded shortly.
"Sounds exhausting." Tony muttered before he began to play around with the screens. "The rest of the raw materials, agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to kick start the Cube." He finished as he turned back to them.
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria inquired scathingly.
"Last night." Tony answered. When the others looked at him oddly, he pressed on, "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"
"Does Loki need a particular power source?" Troy asked.
"He would have to heat the cube to one hundred twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Bruce expressed thoughtfully.
"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Tony added.
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at reactor on the planet." Bruce returned.
"Finally, someone who speaks English." Tony said in delight as he strode over to Bruce.
"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked.
Tony ignored the super soldier and warmly shook hands with Bruce. "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 uncomfortable at that. "Thanks." He mumbled.
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube." Fury declared as he entered the bridge. "I was hoping you might join him."
"I'd start with that stick of his." Steve suggested, glad they were now back to a familiar topic. "It may be magical, but it work an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
"HYDRA?" Chaos repeated confusedly.
"The Nazi organization Steve fought against back in World War II." Troy educated his other.
"I don't know about that," Fury started, "but it is powered by the cube. And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys?" Thor uttered in bafflement. "I do not understand."
"I do." Steve piped excitedly. Troy snorted amusedly at the super soldier, while Tony made no attempt to hide his exasperated eye roll. "I understood that reference."
"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asked Bruce.
"This way, sir." Bruce replied and with that, the two departed from the bridge.
Once the two geniuses left, Fury then said to Natasha, "Agent Romanoff, go have a 'chat' with the prisoner, see what you can get out of him." The red haired woman nodded and went off on her task.
Steve, Troy, and Thor remained in the bridge, but after a while, Steve walked out of the bridge. Troy mused it was probably to escape from Coulson's admiring gaze. Chaos had been oddly quiet, and while Troy had long gotten used to having another voice inside of his head, he did appreciate the silence, however long or short it may be.
"Troy." Chaos broke the silence.
"What's up, buddy?" Troy thought back.
"I've been thinking." The symbiote informed.
"About?"
"What Tony said on the jet just before Thor showed up, 'There's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you'."
Troy frowned as he caught onto where Chaos was going with this. "You think Fury's hiding something?"
"I can't help but think we've been brought onto this… ship under false pretenses. If there's one thing we both know from watching all those movies and TV shows, it's that nothing is as it seems."
"Well, I think it's time we do some digging." Troy decreed as he stood up and walked out of the bridge.
"We're gonna be like James Bond." Chaos chortled.
"Except James Bond doesn't have an alien inside of him."
As Troy traversed through the corridors of the ship, he was surprised when he spotted Steve storm out of a room, looking incredibly annoyed. "What's with the ticked off look?" Troy asked as he approached Steve.
"Stark." Steve bit out through gritted teeth.
"The guy got under your skin, didn't he?" Troy inquired knowingly.
"No, I can handle Stark being annoying. It's something else." Steve replied.
"Care to fill me in?" Troy requested.
"Stark's right about something." Steve kicked off. "Why didn't Fury call us sooner? Why not call Stark if this was really just about clean energy?"
"So, you also think Fury's hiding something?" Troy stated.
"Also?" Steve repeated.
"Chaos and I also think Fury's been hiding something, that he's not being truthful. It looks like we have a common goal, Captain." Troy said with a smirk.
"Yeah, it seems we do." Steve admitted before he strode down the corridor, Troy following after him.
The two eventually stopped by the door that led into the secure storage room. Steve glanced around to check if they were alone. "Can you help me get this door open?" He asked Troy.4
The host smirked. "Absolutely." He quipped before his arms became encased in Chaos' flesh.
Together, the two began to heave the door, shoving it off its hinges. Chaos' flesh receded once they got the door fully opened. Steve peered inside before the two slowly made their way into the storage room. Metal boxes were neatly organized in stacks all over the place.
"Think we could steal something in here?" Chaos asked a little too excitedly.
"We're not here to steal anything." Troy said, and Chaos pouted.
Steve jumped up to grab the railings and lifted himself up onto the top catwalk, Troy following his example. The two then eventually came to a stop in front of a box. "Alright, let's have a looksee inside of this." Troy declared.
Steve gripped the lid and wrenched it off. The super soldier stared in horror at what was inside. "What is all this?" Troy murmured.
"HYDRA weapons." Steve sneered, voice seething in anger.
"That's the real reason Fury wants the Tesseract back so badly. So he can continue making his doomsday arsenal." Chaos snarled.
Steve furiously snatched the weapon and stormed out of the room, anger radiating off every inch of him. "Woah, Steve, wait up!" Troy called as he followed after Steve.
A few minutes earlier
Loki aimlessly paced around within the cell. All was going according to plan. All he had to do now, was wait. And he had all the time in the world. However, he suddenly stopped when he felt a presence outside of the cell. The god smirked. "There's not many people who can sneak up on me." He said as he turned around to see Natasha.
"But you figured I'd come." Natasha retorted.
"After." Loki returned. "After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate."
"I want to know what you've done to agent Barton." Natasha demanded.
"I would say I've expanded his mind." Loki answered nonchalantly.
"And once you've won," Natasha began as she moved toward the cell, "once you're king of the mountain, what happens to his mind?" She finished, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh… is this love, agent Romanoff?" Loki mocked.
"Love is for children. I owe him a debt." Natasha said lowly.
"Tell me." Loki requested as he backed toward the metal bench within the cell and took a seat on it.
Natasha paused. "Before I worked for SHEILD, I, uh…" She kicked off as she took a seat in a chair that had been placed next to the railing. "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."
Loki merely nodded as he listened to the agent. "And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" He queried.
"Not let you out." Natasha responded.
"No, but I like this." Loki said with an evil grin. "Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man."
"Regimes fall every day." Natasha said flatly. "I tend not to weep over that. I'm Russian. Or I was."
"And what are you now?" Loki inquired.
"It's really not that complicated." Natasha pointed out as she rose to her feet and took a few steps toward the cell. "I got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out." She concluded, crossing her arms over her chest once more.
"Can you?" Loki asked back. "Can you wipe out that much red? Dreykov's daughter," Natasha tensed, her heart pounding against her chest as the god went on, "Sao Paulo, the hospital fire? Barton told me everything." He stood up and began to walk toward the glass, a malicious gleam in his eyes. "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 is a child at prayer. Pathetic! 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 part of you. And they will never. Go. Away."
Loki slammed a fist against the glass, causing Natasha to flinch, and the god continued in a far darker tone, "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!" Natasha couldn't take it anymore and turned away. "This is my bargain, you mewling quim." Loki finished in a snarl.
"You're a monster." Natasha croaked, sniffling.
Loki chuckled sinisterly as he moved his fist away from the glass. "Oh no. You brought the monster."
Bingo. Natasha spun around to face Loki, having feigned her sniffling. "So, Banner." She stated. Loki was completely taken aback by her sudden change in demeanor. "That's your play."
"What?" Loki murmured confusedly.
Natasha brought a finger up to her earpiece. "Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab. I'm on my way. Send Thor as well." She informed as she made her way out. But she paused and said to Loki, "Thank you, for your cooperation." And with that, Natasha departed from the detention center, leaving Loki alone once more.
Now…
"He's definitely angry." Chaos said as Troy followed after Steve.
"No shit." Troy thought back.
The two made their way back to the lab. They heard Fury's voice, and Tony asking, "What is Phase Two?"
Steve and Troy entered the room, the super soldier roughly placing the HYDRA weapon on a table before stating coldly, "Phase Two is SHEILD uses the cube to make weapons." He then addressed Tony. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me."
Fury then attempted to explain to Steve, "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that-"
"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony interrupted and all eyes went to him. "What were you lying?" He added scornfully as he showed the screen displaying a schematic of a HYRDA weapon.
"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said to Fury coldly.
"Looks like your big secret is out." Troy spat venomously as Natasha and Thor entered the lab.
"Did you know about this?" Bruce demanded of Natasha, gesturing to the screen and to the weapon lying on the table.
"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" Natasha replied firmly.
Bruce scoffed. "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."
"Loki's manipulating you." Natasha told him sharply.
"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Bruce retorted.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha fired back.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce countered before pointing to the scree and demanded of Fury, "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
All eyes went to Fury. "Because of him." The man answered bluntly, pointing at Thor.
Everyone turned their gazes to the thunder god, who seemed be stunned by the answer. "Me?"
"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town." Fury explained his actions. "We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."
"My people want nothing but peace with your world." Thor assured.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Fury countered. "And you're not the only threat." The director then turned back to everyone else as he continued to justify, "The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that be controlled."
"Like me and my roommate?" Troy sneered coldly, and Chaos growled savagely.
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve asked in a contemptuous voice.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies." Thor added angrily. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."
"A higher form?" Steve repeated.
"You forced our hand." Fury said firmly. "We had to come up-"
"A nuclear deterrent." Tony interrupted with a scoff. "Because that always calms everything right down."
Fury turned to Stark. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" The director said pointedly.
Steve chimed scornfully, "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-"
"Wait, wait, hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony interrupted irritably.
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve shot back scathingly.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this?" Thor cut in disdainfully.
"Excuse me. Do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury demanded of the thunder god.
"Do you always give your champions such mistrust?" Thor countered.
Natasha joined in. "Are you boys really that naïve? SHIELD monitors potential threats."
"Captain America is on the threat list?" Bruce interjected with raised brows.
"We all are." Natasha snapped back.
"Wait, you're on that list?" Tony said to Steve tauntingly. "Are you above or below angry bees?"
"Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack-"
"Threat! Verbal threat! I feel threatened!"
As the others continued to argue with each other, Troy rubbed his forehead. "Oh my God." He mumbled disdainfully.
"Some team this is." Chaos spat.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos!" Thor mocked Fury.
"It's his M.O., isn't it?" Bruce interjected and all eyes went to him. "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 sternly.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony scoffed as he casually placed a hand on Steve's shoulder.
The super soldier swatted the hand away. "You know damn well why! Back off!"
Tony's eyes became dark. His famous joking demeanor had vanished. "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."
Steve matched him and growled, "Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony listed. Troy and Natasha shrugged, knowing that he had a point.
Steve was unimpressed and snarled, "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. And I've seen the footage. The only thing you fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make 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 retorted.
Troy could tell that the words affected Steve. The super soldier smiled mirthlessly. "Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
That struck Tony's nerve. "A hero? Like you?" He said coldly. "You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!" He added harshly.
"Put on the suit," Steve growled, "let's go a few rounds."
"What, are they doing a dick measuring contest now?" Chaos jeered. His host was unamused.
Thor laughed humorlessly. "You people are so petty, and tiny." Both Steve and Tony glared at the thunder god.
"Yeah, this is a team." Bruce muttered sarcastically.
Fury then said to Natasha calmly, "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-"
"Where?" Bruce interrupted, before gesturing out the lab. "You rented my room."
"The cell was just in case-"
"In case you needed to kill me," Bruce interrupted again, "but you can't. I know, I tried." He bit the words out.
An uneasy silence fell upon the room. "You tried to kill yourself?" Troy asked, feeling sympathetic.
Bruce nodded and began, "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out." Everyone remained silent as the doctor went on. "So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you," he glowered at Natasha and Fury, "dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk." His voice began to crack. He reached behind him and growled at Natasha, "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff. You wanna know how I stay calm?"
Natasha and Fury saw where Bruce's hand had gone and they reached for their guns in their holsters, and Chaos' flesh covered Troy's right hand, claws included. "Dr. Banner." Steve said in a forced calm voice. Bruce glared at the super soldier. "Put down the scepter." Steve ordered firmly. Bruce glanced down at his hand in surprise, now just realizing he had grasped the scepter.
The tension in the room was growing stronger with each passing second. Then, a computer went off in the far corner. Everyone glanced at it as Bruce carefully placed the scepter back down. "Got it." Bruce muttered. "Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all." He added sarcastically as he walked over to the computer while Chaos' flesh receded into his host.
"Located the Tesseract?" Thor questioned.
"I can get there faster." Tony quickly said.
"Look, all of us-"
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," Thor stated, interrupting Steve. "No human is a match for it."
Tony shrugged and proceeded to leave anyway, but Steve grabbed his arm. "You're not going alone!" The super soldier snapped.
Tony wrenched his arm free. "You gonna stop me?" He challenged.
"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve returned heatedly. Fury looked at the pair in exasperation.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."
"Put on the suit."
"ENOUGH!" Troy bellowed. Everyone was startled by his loudness, even Thor.
Then, all hell broke loose.
As always, thanks for reading! Please leave a review, and have an awesome day!
Also, we may see some possible Hulk vs Chaos action in the next chapter!