Natasha stepped into the lab which was already in disarray due to Fury arguing with Tony, Bruce, and Steve. Sensing the tension, she looked immediately to Bruce, knowing that he was what Loki wanted.
"Did you know about this?" Bruce questioned her.
"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"
"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."
"Loki is manipulating you," Natasha pressed.
"And you've been doing what, exactly?"
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce grabbed his screen. "I want to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
"Because of him," Fury said, pointing at a confused Thor.
"Me?"
"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 argued.
"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, that can't be controlled," He emphasized, glancing at Tony who bristled.
"Like you control the cube?" Steve challenged.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies," Thor explained. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."
"A higher form?" Steve questioned.
"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something," Fury argued.
"A nuclear deterrent," Tony scoffed. "Because that always calms everything right down."
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark."
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep—" Steve added.
"Wait, wait. Hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony cut him off, offended.
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"
"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor grumbled.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury snapped.
The group all began bickering just as Jess hurried in, a hand on her head in pain. A ringing had started up in the back of her mind that ached, but her attention was now focused on the group of arguing people.
"Enough!" She finally shouted, making the room go silent as she stepped in. "Are you lot really going to let him get to you that easily?"
"Excuse me?" Fury questioned.
"I was in there just now with him, and if any of you had let me talk to him first, then you would understand a bit more of what's going on right now."
"Hold on. You spoke with Loki?" Tony gaped, turning to Fury, only for Jess to step into the center of the circle of people.
"Shut up. Now. And just listen for a minute."
He hesitated but knew better than to not let Jess finish what she wanted to say.
"Now, Loki is manipulating you all with words. This right here? This infighting? It's what he wants."
"He told me he wanted the Hulk," Natasha mentioned, and Jess shook her head.
"He wanted you to think he wanted the Hulk, so you'd come up here and put Bruce on the defensive. He already gets enough crap from you lot about being some dangerous green thing, so you coming in and suddenly demanding he leave from a slightly tense conversation proves you don't trust him. And if you've ever been on the other side of that, then you know you'd get defensive too, which doesn't help." Jess's glare surprisingly silenced Natasha. "Now, problem number two. You, Fury, are hiding what I assume is a plan to make weapons with this Tesseract thing, right?"
"Yes," Tony interjected, and Jess lifted a hand his way.
"I told you to shut up."
He pursed his lips, but went silent, giving Fury a chance to speak.
"Yes, but only because Thor—"
"Happened to stumble upon a planet and caused a ruckus? Yeah, getting that. Thing is, when has that ever helped? Europeans stumble into America and meet Native Americans. They get worried about the Natives and bring weapons to protect themselves, which eventually turns into a war that neither side had to have. Now, you want to do the same with Earth and the rest of the universe? Yes, there are apparently aliens out there with better technology than us. So, why are you so determined to pick a fight with them? We're so behind them technology-wise, it'd be stupid for them to try and invade our planet anyway. It's like Tony fighting a bunch of homeless people. It's stupid, pointless, and asking for baseless death. Next, Steve."
"Me?" Steve questioned and Jess shook her head.
"Oh, don't get me started. I understand you're behind the times and you're a soldier. And I get that. My parents were soldiers and I've seen what it can do to people. The thing is, you need to take some time to think for yourself. Stop with the following orders and look beyond what's been placed in front of you. Better yet? Realize not everything has to come down to war and fighting. You and Tony could be damn amazing if you just got along enough to work together instead of bickering over petty things. Tony has a big head and yes, he's narcissistic, but if you look past that for one damn minute, you can see that he's not the same man who was building weapons years ago. You can see that he's actually willing to risk himself for more than just himself. So, do something smart. Get your head out of the past and try to look forward and in return, you'd be damn surprised how civil Tony can be. And Tony, you better try or we're going to have a problem."
"Yes, ma'am," Tony muttered.
"And Thor."
Thor straightened, but more out of concern than making himself appear threatening. Jess was rather intimidating from his perspective.
"You are a myth from our legends. And we don't quite understand what that means when you're physically here. You might be immortal, you might not. You obviously have abilities that we don't understand, but that doesn't make you any better than us. You're not allowed to look down on the people of Earth just because your technology is better, or you have superpowers or whatever—and that goes for the lot of you. Do you look down on children because they don't understand the world and you do? No, you damn well teach them, which is what you should be doing, Thor. Teaching us better ways to do things. Ways to avoid conflicts with your people and the rest of the universe because we obviously don't know how, if Fury's little weapons project wasn't proof enough."
Jess eyed the group before landing on the one person she hadn't spoken to directly.
"And Bruce, you're a good guy. It's obvious. You didn't want to be here because you're afraid you're going to hurt someone but let me tell you something. You need to stop being so afraid of him and just accept that he is you. And I'm not saying it'll be easy. I'm not saying either of you will take it well at first, but you're stuck with each other for now, just like I'm stuck with Tony."
Tony was smart and didn't argue at the moment.
"And if we're going to work together to deal with Loki, then we need everyone on the same page, doing the same things, and having confidence in themselves and in each other, otherwise this mess is never going to work. And as much as you're going to hate it, it means you need to come to terms with what happened to you and start working on an agreement between you and yourself. Figure out what you want from him and what he wants from you. And if you need a safe space to do that, ask Fury for a nice empty space that won't make him feel trapped and won't make you feel worried." Jess turned to Fury and Natasha then. "And that means you and your lot need to stop making him feel like he's a ticking time bomb. Get rid of the cage we're keeping Loki in. Stop making up protocols just for him. Stop acting like he's going to hurt anyone and treat him like a damn human being like all the rest of us. Because honestly? He's not the biggest threat to me right now in this room. I have no abilities, not superpowers or strength. I don't have any special training. I'm about as civilian as you can get and I'm less afraid of him than the rest of you. Why? Because he has better control over his temper than you lot. So, can we please stop giving Loki what he wants by fighting and just—"
Tony was quick to step forward when she doubled over, grabbing at her head. "Jess? Jess, what is it?"
"Am I seriously the only one hearing that ringing?"
"Ringing? What ringing?"
Natasha reached for her gun. "Has she been taken over by Loki too?"
Jess glared. "Don't be stupid. You need physical contact, otherwise, we'd all be having issues right now." She shook her head then, trying to rid herself of the painful ringing in her head. "No. It's something else. Something—"
Fury unlatched his gun as well, eyes drifting towards her. "Miss Norris put down the scepter."
Jess looked down, realizing she'd picked up the staff at some point, but not sure when.
"Jess?" Tony murmured when she didn't move, and her eyes widened.
"It's this," she breathed, looking to him. "The ringing is from this. I-It's feeding off the energy in the room. It's messing with us."
"Just put it down, Jess," Steve said calmly, and she slowly put it back on its stand, giving the others a chance to relax before a beeping went off and all eyes went to the scanner that had been locating the Tesseract.
"You located the Tesseract?" Thor questioned as Bruce moved over to check it with Natasha and Jess following.
"I could get there the fastest," Tony offered.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it," Thor argued, and Jess shot them a look.
"Oi, I said no fighting. Let's just collect it first and figure out what to do with it afterward, shall we?"
"You're not going alone," Steve stopped Tony, who slapped his arm off.
"You gonna stop me?"
"Put on the suit, let's find out."
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."
"Put on the suit."
Jess brought her hand back to her head. "Guy, please. You two can have a spar to settle these grudges after we get this thing."
"Oh my God," Bruce breathed before there was an explosion and the group was thrown in different directions.
I shifted with a groan, ears ringing for an entirely different reason as something on top of me moved.
"—ess. Jess!"
I winced at the person lightly patting my face, cracking open my eyes and coughing only to grimace at the pain the action sent through me.
"Try not to breathe too deeply. I don't know how hurt you are," Natasha said, wincing herself as she struggled to pull her ankle out from the piping on top of us.
While her leg was pinned between two pipes, the larger pipe was lying across my back, pushing me into the grating and making it hard to breathe.
"W-What happened?"
"Something blew up one of the engines."
I groaned. "Loki. I was trying to tell you lot. He wanted us fighting… a-as a distraction." I tried to slide myself out from under the piping but didn't budge. "I-I can't move."
Natasha reached up to her earpiece. "We're okay," she informed Fury, probably only for the both of us to look at Bruce as he grunted. "We're okay, right?"
"Oh, boy," I murmured.
"Doctor?" Natasha tried, seeing now that we were in a bit more of a situation than previously expected. "Bruce, you've got to fight it. This is just what Loki wants."
"Oh, shut up about Loki for a minute," I hissed at her. "Can you get out from under these pipes?"
"I need some time."
"I'll try to lift it."
"Jess, you can't—"
"Don't care," I growled, bearing through the pain as I tried to push myself up onto my elbows and lift the heavy piping.
"Can't you call your suit?" She argued.
I shot her a look. "We were supposed to go sparring. I took off my watch."
"Jess—"
"Well, maybe next time you won't be late!" I snipped shortly as two men started rushing over.
"Are you hurt?"
Natasha hastily waved them off and they rushed out as I turned to Bruce.
"Bruce, you okay there, buddy? I-I know things are a bit scary right now, but we'll be okay. I swear."
Natasha agreed. "I swear on my life, I will get you out of this. You will walk away and never ever—"
"Your life!" Bruce snapped in a monstrous tone.
Natasha finally managed to slip out from the piping but didn't move, staring in shock as Bruce twisted on the ground, body growing.
"Not hers then!" I called out, sinking back to the ground with a cringe at the weight pushing me down. "What about mine then, Bruce? B-Because I get it. You can't trust them. They've always been looking down on you like you're dangerous and going to hurt them, but I won't. I never will!"
"You will!" He shouted in return, stumbling off the area we were and hitting the ground below, changing even more.
His shirt tore and his muscles bulged, skin tinting green before he wobbled onto his feet and roared in frustration. Natasha looked to me, making to try and lift the piping, but I waved her off.
"No, just go."
"I can't leave you. Tony—"
"Tony will get the hell over it because nothing's going to happen," I argued. "But you can't be here. He doesn't trust you. Leave, but don't run. Don't make it obvious. Be quiet and stealthy about it so he won't go after you."
She nodded, taking two steps away, but it was too late. Bruce had fully transformed into the Hulk and he'd turned just in time to spot her making for the stairs. He snarled, letting out a roar and she ran, making me curse under my breath.
"Idiot, I told you not to run!"
"You'd rather he kill me?" She shouted back as the Hulk grabbed the bottom half of the stairs and threw them aside.
"He's still Bruce! He won't kill you!"
"You don't know that!"
The Hulk was ripping away ceiling panels as Natasha ran away and things went quiet. Or, relatively. I tried again to push the piping off me, only to freeze when loud, thundering footsteps approached. I swallowed thickly, forcing myself to push back the fear my body instinctively held as the Hulk towered over me.
"B-Bruce, you've got to help me out," I muttered, looking up and trying to reason with the man who was tucked away behind the angered Hulk.
His lips curled in a snarl as he growled and I winced, glancing away briefly as I fought to try and get out from under the piping.
"Come on, Bruce. I know you're still in there and if you're taking a backseat, that's fine. I can talk to you, big guy," I said, glancing at the green giant with a grimace of a smile. "B-Because you're a nice guy too, right?"
The Hulk roared, throwing his arm out to the side and breaking some more piping, but I refused to turn away in fear. It would only make things worse.
"S-See? You could have hurt me just now, but you didn't because I'm not a threat a-and you're just trying to keep Bruce safe, right?"
He growled again, moving closer as my heart raced.
"T-Thank you," I murmured, making the man pause as I managed a wobbling smile. "For keeping him safe. I haven't known him for long, but B-Bruce is a really good guy. A-And you might come off as scary to a lot of people, but… but I've met a real monster."
I struggled to push away images of my father attacking me. Trips to the hospital where I couldn't tell anyone what happened as my father spread more and more lies. The bruises and burns and scars.
"I lived with a real monster for a long time a-and you're nothing like him," I murmured, trying to get him to see. "So, w-what I'm trying to say is… I'm not afraid of you, Bruce. Green or not."
The Hulk reached out for me, but there was a warmness to his gaze that hadn't been there before. A hint of Bruce that had managed to pull forward. Then, it was gone as Thor tacked him across the room and into the airplane hangar.
"No!" I shouted, struggling to get out from under the pipes, only to let out a soft cry of pain.
The Hulk had been trying to lift the pipes before and when he was tackled, they'd fallen back over me and shifted, putting even more weight on my back. Natasha rushed over, waving a few of the workers to help get the pipes off me as I snapped at her.
"W-Why? He was just trying to help me!"
"We couldn't be sure of that."
"I could!" I spat finally getting pulled out from under the piping, and I tried to get up, only for Natasha to stop me.
"We don't know how hurt you are. You probably shouldn't be moving."
"I'm fine," I said shortly, pushing her off me and wincing with an arm wrapped around my torso. "Winded a-and I think my back and ribs are bruised, but we need to move. If Loki sent people here—"
"Clint's probably with them."
"More than that, they're going to get him out."
Natasha looked at me. "I'll go after Clint. They won't be able to handle him on their own."
"Tony's probably fixing the engine. Fury should be on the main deck trying to keep everyone together," I rattled off, glancing at the hole in the wall. "Thor's dealing with Bruce, and Steve might be helping Tony too. There's no one to deal with Loki, so I'll go."
"Jess, you can't stop him."
"Maybe not, but I can at least stop others from getting hurt trying," I bit out, cringing as I straightened my aching back. "I can at least seal the room off. Prevent people from getting in or out. If anyone goes in there with a gun, they're dead. And if I'm lucky, Thor will be so preoccupied with Bruce that he won't go trying to stop his brother." I groaned. "I hate when personal emotions get in the way of working."
Natasha raised a brow. "Really?"
"No, not really, but you have to agree, now isn't really the time for the two to have a brotherly spat."
"Do you know the codes?"
I nodded, smirking. "I was the one who got Tony into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system, you know. Honestly, you all don't give me enough credit."
"Be careful," she muttered as I made for the door.
"You too."
I hurried to the containment room as quickly as I could, only for the ship to start tipping and the lurching in my stomach making me swallow thickly.
"Oh, I hate falling," I murmured, reaching the containment room and quickly working the keypad for the door as I spotted Loki's cage beginning to open. "Shit, shit, shit. Come on door, work faster!"
Footsteps approached and I groaned.
"Thor now is really not the time—"
"My brother is escaping," he argued.
"And he won't if I can just get this door—"
"No need," he growled, charging into the room as I abandoned the controls to try and stop him.
"Thor! Don't be stupid! He'll just—" My shout fell on deaf ears as Thor charged at Loki, only for the man to faze right through him, landing in the cage himself. "—trick you."
The cage doors closed with Thor inside and Loki on the outside, and I went to try and get to the main controls for the cage only to freeze and slowly lift my hands in the air. A soldier was aiming his gun at me and Loki's scepter point was being pressed lightly against my back.
"Now, now, my dear. Let's not be so hasty," Loki purred, giving Thor a smirk. "Are you ever not going to fall for that?"
Thor slammed his hammer against the glass, and I jerked, freezing once more when Loki's scepter pressed a little harder against my spine. Thor's powerful hit had cracked the glass sure, but it had also loosened one of the clamps holding the cage.
"The humans think us immortal," Loki smirked, nudging me lightly towards the controls. "Should we test that? Jess, was it? Drop the cage."
I swallowed thickly, not moving.
"I said, drop the cage," Loki snarled, making me wince as his scepter's point dug into the small of my back.
The soldier then, grunted, falling over as Coulson stood with a gun aimed at Loki.
"Move away please."
"Coulson," I spat, feeling concern growing in me. "What the hell are you doing? Get out of here."
"Sorry, Jess. No can do. We can't let Loki get away and believe it or not, but it is also my job to protect you."
"Because I'm dating Tony?" I questioned with a groan. "First off, great. Good to know I can't even be trusted to protect myself. And second, I don't care. You need to get the hell out of here now. It's no time to be heroic. He'll kill you if you threaten him."
"And he won't kill you?" Coulson argued as I grit my teeth.
"I'd like to pretend he wouldn't, but if you could just get outside, seal the room, the controls then he can't get out. One person's death is worth saving the world, dammit."
"Exactly," he said, taking a step forward and I resisted the urge to step forward myself to strangle the man
"That's not what I meant, and you know it, you idiot."
"Sorry, Jess, but I'm not under any obligation to listen to you."
"And I'm going to have a long talk with your boss about that," I muttered, trying to think of some way to get us all out of this mess and coming up with nothing.
"You like this?" Coulson asked Loki, who eyed him cautiously from behind me. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does."
"And you'll really regret not getting out of here if it just blows bubbles or some shit, Coulson. Just go!" I shouted, only to grimace when Loki's arm came around my throat and his scepter pressed dangerously against my spine, drawing blood.
Coulson charged up the weapon. "Let her go."
"All right."
The pressure was gone, and I barely had time to blink before Loki was behind Coulson with his scepter through the man's gut.
"No!" Thor and I shouted, myself starting to rush forward only for Loki to grab me again.
"Coulson! Coulson, you idiot! I-I told you to go!" I cried out, struggling against Loki to try and get to the man in the hopes of helping to stop the bleeding and potentially save him.
Loki raised his scepter to my neck. "Now, now, behave and do as you're told and maybe I'll spare him."
I gave Thor a glance knowing that Loki wouldn't bother trying to save Coulson and this was undoubtedly a trick to get me to do as he wanted, but there was still a chance, as small as it was. Thor knew this and nodded, accepting his fate, because if I didn't, then Loki would and any possible chance of saving Coulson would be dashed. So, I slowly reached out to the control panel and Loki pulled his scepter away.
"There you go," he purred, breath hot against my ear.
"I'm sorry," I murmured, giving Thor one last look and the man managed a small smile.
He forgave me. And then, the clamps were released and down he fell. I clenched my eyes shut, breathing hard through my nose and fighting the urge to either cry or whip around and strangle the cackling God behind me. Instead, I took that opportunity to rush to Coulson's side and press my hands firmly against his injury, earning a grimace. Dying as he was, he still wouldn't shut up.
"You're going to lose," he told Loki, who glanced at the two of us.
"Am I?"
"It's in your nature," Coulson breathed out as I clenched my teeth to keep silent myself and not make things worse for us.
"Your heroes are scattered. Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"
"You lack conviction."
For a moment, I saw angry bitterness pass over Loki's face, an unexpected honest emotion from the man who only seemed to know how to show cruelty.
"I don't think I'm—"
I jerked as the gun in Coulson's lap went off, hitting Loki in the chest and into the next room.
"C-Coulson?" I questioned, rather surprised by the bold move.
"So, that's what it does," he murmured.
"God, you, you big idiot," I stuttered out, helping him to lie down and keeping pressure on his injury, but it just continued to pour blood out from between my fingers. "Why didn't you run?"
"I couldn't leave you."
"D-Don't. Don't you dare," I croaked, tears starting to well up. "I-I don't want you to die because of me. This is God damn Tony's job. Protecting me is his job, not, not yours."
His blurry gaze met mine. "He told me to keep you safe. I owed it to him to try."
"Try!" I shouted, tears finally falling. "Try, n-not, not die. Why do you all keep doing this? I'm nobody, dammit. I'm not super-powered or special. I-I'm just a damn lawyer, so why do you and Tony and everyone else keep trying to save me?"
Coulson scoffed, blood slipping out from between his lips. "N-Now who's the idiot? Y-You're an amazing woman, J-Jess, and Tony i-is a very lucky guy."
"S-Shut up," I muttered, wishing I could just do something to help him. "D-Don't talk like that. L-Like you're…"
I couldn't say it, but he knew and gave me a soft smile.
"Keep them together for me, yeah?"
I nodded, hearing footsteps approaching and workers calling for medical help before Fury crouched down beside us.
"Sorry, boss," Coulson muttered as Fury moved the gun away. "The God rabbited."
"Just stay awake. Eyes on me," Fury commanded, but Coulson's head lolled towards the floor.
"No. I'm clocked out here."
"Not an option."
"It's okay, boss. This was never gonna work if they didn't have something to… to…"
I bowed my head with a choked sob as Coulson passed and the medical team arrived. Fury lightly pulled me up and away from him, keeping an arm across my shoulder as I spat watery curses under my breath.
"D-Dammit. He… T-This was all my fault. He wouldn't… H-He did this f-for me. H-He saved me b-because I couldn't do anything on my own. L-Loki… T-Thor… G-God f-fucking dammit." I pressed my hands to my face as Fury shook his head.
"No. None of this is your fault, Jess. No one could have predicted this, but you were close, and we didn't listen. And he always knew you were the smart one. You turned him away the first time you met and all he ever did after that was fight to convince me you were worth getting involved in this. Not because of how you handle Tony, but because of you. And it's about time I listened."