Chapter Seven: Family Bonding

Emma found Steve hovering in the hull hangar in front of Secure Storage 10-C. He was trying to open the door with all of his might but he appeared to be struggling with it. Emma held her breath and found her anger again as she walked beside Steve to help him open it. With their combined strength they managed to open the door. Steve looked at her in surprise.

"How did you - ?" he asked, trailing off in confusion.

"Trust me, I'm just as surprised as you are," she said. "You aren't the only person Fury kept this secret from."

"You didn't know about this?" he asked his granddaughter.

"No, if I did I would have told you and anyways, I don't think this is the best time to be talking about this. We need to find out what else Fury is hiding," Emma said, nodding her head towards the open door.

Together, they walked stealthily into the large warehouse filled with stacked metal crates. Steve wraps his hand around her waist and leapt up high onto the catwalk railing, pulling her over. They move forward further into the warehouse and knelt down in front of the metal crates, opening it. Emma peered over his shoulder and her eyes widened.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked him.

"Yes, and it looks like you guys were right," Steve said with a stony expression. "Fury was hiding something."

They strode down the hallway with the weapon gripped tightly in Steve's hand, heading back towards the lab to show Tony and Bruce exactly what Fury was hiding. Emma stared at him, biting her lip.

"I'm sorry if I upset you earlier by disagreeing with you," Emma said.

"There's no need to apologize, Emma. I was wrong to blindly follow orders. I sometimes forget that not every rule should be followed," Steve said softly. "It's not wrong to have your own mind. In fact, I'm very proud that you do. You're very much like your grandmother in that aspect."

"Thanks, Pops," she replied with a grin.

"Pops? What happened to Gramps?" he asked.

"Eh, it made you sound kind of old, even though you are old like super old," Emma babbled. "Ancient, in fact."

"Thanks," Steve said sarcastically.

"You don't look it, though," she said, teasingly nudging him in the side with her elbow.

"So, tell me what happened with Fury," Steve said, his serious expression returning.

After Emma told her grandfather what happened and what Fury had done, they arrived at the lab to find Fury there rather upset that the two scientists weren't working on Loki's scepter.

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss," they heard Tony say. "What is phase 2?"

Suddenly, Emma and Steve walk into the lab dropping a Hydra assault rifle on the table causing Fury, Banner, and Tony to turn around. Emma and Steve looked very pissed off at Fury as they had every right to be.

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses to the cube to make weapons," Steve said. "Along with my granddaughter. Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're -," Fury was cut off before he could explain.

"I'm sorry, Nick," Tony said, moving the computer screen towards fury which showed plans of the weapons. "What were you lying?"

"I was wrong, director," Steve said. "The world hasn't changed a bit."

"And what does Agent Carter have to do with this?" Dr. Banner asked.

"I have the same serum running through my veins that runs through my grandfather's," Emma replied. "And they were hoping to use it to make more super soldiers, isn't that right?"

At that moment, Thor and Natasha walk into the lab. Natasha kept her eyes right on Banner and he looked at her angrily.

"Did you know about this?" Dr. Banner asked.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Dr. Banner?" she asked without showing the slightest hint of emotion.

Emma wondered how she did that when she wore hers easily on her sleeve.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed," he replied.

"Loki's manipulating you," Natasha told him.

"And you've been doing what exactly?" he asked her.

"You didn't come here because I batted my eyelashes at you," she told him.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction," Dr. Banner said.

"Because of him," Fury replied, pointing at Thor.

"Me?" the god of thunder asked, stunned.

"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," Fury said.

Emma wasn't there in New Mexico but she heard about it from Phil and she was glad that she hadn't been.

"My people want nothing but peace with your people," Thor said.

"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, who can't be controlled," Fury said.

"So, that gives you the right to do the controlling?" Emma asked furiously, her ocean blue eyes flashing.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve said, his own eyes flashing.

In that moment, it wasn't hard to see that the two were related, not at all. They held the same anger in their eyes, their brows furrowing in the same manor. She was her grandfather's granddaughter. As the team continued to argue, they all failed to notice that the blue gem on Loki's scepter was glowing brightly and that included Emma. She was too caught up in the conversation.

At some point Steve and Tony stood face to face, insulting each other. When Tony mentioned the part about the only special thing about Steve was from a bottle, Emma had been ready to fight him too. She was about to step in when Bruce dropped a bomb on them all.

"Agent Romanoff, would escort Dr. Banner back to his. . ." Fury began but was interrupted.

"Where? You rented my room," Bruce spat at him.

"The cell was just in case. . ." he trailed off.

"In case you need to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" Bruce exclaimed.

Everyone paused for a moment to stare at him in sympathy. Emma's anger ebbed away and she bit her lip, thinking about how her situation could have been worse. She could turn into a giant green monster and she felt sorry for Bruce.

"I got low, I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet into my mouth, and the other guy spit it out! 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!" Bruce yelled at Fury and then looked at Natasha. "You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff, you wanna know how I stay calm?"

At some point, Bruce had gripped the scepter tightly in his hand. Everyone stared at him with alarm, Fury and Natasha reached for their guns.

"Doctor Banner," Steve said gently. "Put down the scepter."

Bruce came to when the computer beeped, alerting them to the location of the Tesseract. Steve and Tony were about to start arguing again when Bruce let out an exclamation at the same time the Hellicarrier was rocked by an explosion, causing everyone to be thrown in every direction. Steve had managed to throw himself over his granddaughter and pull her away from danger, afterwards helping her and Tony up. Steve and Tony rush out of the lab with Emma trailing after them.

"Emma, get somewhere safe!" Steve called over his shoulder.

"Where is that exactly?" she asked sarcastically and Tony laughed.

"You're not exactly in control of your abilities, Emma. . .," Steve trailed off as the three of them ran through a debris filled hallway.

"I can handle it or do I have to remind you who my grandparents are again?" she said stubbornly. "Let me help."

There was no point in arguing with her as most of her stubbornness seemed to come from him and he cursed himself. Tony ran off to get his suit as the other two ran to find Engine three that needed to be repaired.

"Well, I think this can be considered family bonding, don't you?" she asked and he chuckled.