Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Disney, ABC or the Avengers.
Natasha was quick about getting to the point, and listened to my instructions clearly. I shuddered as I heard the rage and viciousness in Loki's voice. But Natasha was able to deduce his plan easily.
I was already back at the lab when she sent out the broadcast that Loki wanted to unleash the Hulk. My tablet had alerted me that a Trojan was sneaking it's way into our system. Deciding against my better judgment to kill it, I was going to get my father to back out.
When the door to the lab slid open, I asked my father lowly, "You want to explain why you're breaking into my system Dad?"
"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Fury asked with a calmer take.
"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you," Tony revealed.
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract," Fury tried again, his patience still evident.
"We are," Banner defended. "The models locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get the hit, we'll have a signature within half a mile."
"Yeah, you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss," He stopped as the screen in front of him lit up. "What is Phase 2?"
A clank of metal on metal caught everyone's attention. "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Steve enlightened, while my attention was on the old HYDRA weapons from the 40's.
"Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me. Did you know about this?" He asked, betrayal in his voice.
"Rogers," Fury spoke up before I had the chance, "We gathered everything related to the Tesseract, this does not mean that we-"
"I'm sorry Nick, what were you lying?" Tony asked turning the monitor around to show the schematics of the weapons SHIELD was developing.
"I was wrong, Director," Steve said, hands resting on his utility belt. "The world hasn't changed a bit."
"I was only aware of the Tesseract, Steve." I said, no emotion in my voice. In truth, I was very confused why Fury didn't bring me on to begin with, but I realize it would have been a bad combination, when mixed with helping Steve.
The door hissed as Natasha and Thor came in, Banner instantly jumping on Natasha's back. "Did you know about this?" he demanded.
"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha asked, moving to him slowly.
"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed." Banner pointed out.
"Loki is manipulating you."
Banner scoffed. "And you've been doing what exactly?"
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," she reminded.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little twitchy." Banner moved over to the monitor pointing at it as he spoke. "I want to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction. "
Fury waited half a beat before pointing at Thor. "Because of him."
Thor, who had his arms crossed, frowned. "Me?"
"Last year Earth had a visitor, 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 explained.
"You're not the only threat," Fury spoke. "The world is filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve asked.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies," Thor exclaimed. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."
"'A higher form'?" Steve questioned, his inner soldier emerging full force.
"You forced our hand," Fury explained. "We had to come up with something-"
"A nuclear deterrent," Tony interrupted. "Because that always calms everything right down."
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark." Fury said, sarcastically.
Steve took half a step forward, standing next to me. "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep-"
"Wait, wait. Hold on," Tony interjected. "How is this now about me?"
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked with as much sass as the man could muster.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor opinionated.
"Excuse me!" Fury said, turning to the demi-god. "Did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"
"You treat your champions with such mistrust," Thor defended.
"Are you boys really that naive?" Natasha joined. "SHIELD monitors potential threats."
"Captain America is on the threat watch?" Banner asked disbelieving, arms crossed.
"We all are," Natasha informed.
"Wait, you're on that list?" Tony asked, pointing a finger to Steve as the room broke out into argument. I felt overwhelmed suddenly, my headache pushing forward in full force. Taking a deep breath, I put a hand over my mouth.
"Are you above or below angry bees?" Tony pushed.
"Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack-"Steve began, finally cracking.
"Threat!" Tony yelled. "Verbal threat! I feel threatened!"
"Show some respect," Steve demanded.
"Respect what?" Tony asked, face showing that he was completely oblivious.
"You two are really not helping the situation," I said, dropping my hand from my mouth.
"And what did you expect us to do, Sera?" Tony asked, facing me. "Clasp hands and sing songs around the fire?"
"Do you ever stop?" Steve spoke up, brow furrowed.
"Nope!" The billionaire declared.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos!" Thor spoke loudly, drawing attention to solely him.
"That's his M.O, isn't it?" Banner added. "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."
Fury stepped forward. "You. Need to step away."
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked, putting a hand on Steve's shoulder.
"You know damn well why!" Steve said, slapping his arm away, "Back off!"
"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony expressed.
"Dad, you're not helping," I said, stepping between the two.
"Yeah?" Steve asked with a hint of a smile, taking on the challenge. "Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"
Tony took his stance, "Father, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."
"I've known guys with none of that worth ten of you," Steve said, using his height as advantage. "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really 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 answered simply.
Steve smirked, turning to the rest of the room for a moment. "Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"
"Watch it Dad," I warned, trying to separate the two with my arms.
"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Steve said, not backing down.
Thor's deep laughter erupted. "You people are so petty. And tiny."
"Yeah, this is a team," Banner muttered.
"Agent Romanoff," Fury distracted. "Would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-"
"Where?" Banner demanded. "You rented my room."
"The cell was built-"
"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" The room got really quiet, everyone's attention solely on him. My hand on my Dad's shoulder dropped, but I kept the other one on Steve's. Bruce's confession was striking hard in me.
"I got low," Bruce continued. "I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in 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," he ranted, slowly moving backwards to Loki's spear, his hand wrapping around the handle, "Into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!"
He faced Natasha, who clearly looked uneasy, "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"
"Doctor Banner," Steve said with authority. "Put down the scepter."
Banner looked down, shocked to see that he was, in fact, holding the scepter. There was a brief moment of silence before the computer let out a beep, drawing everyone's attention.
"Got it," Tony announced.
Steve went to pull me behind him, as Banner put down the scepter and made his way to the source of the beep. "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all."
"You located the Tesseract?" Thor said with great interest.
"Everyone take a moment to think," I said. "We're too disorganized."
"I could get there fastest," Tony said, ignoring my suggestion all together.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," Thor countered. "No human is a match for it."
Steve unwrapped his arm from my shoulder, grabbing Tony's arm to stop him, only to have it pushed away. "You're not going alone!" Steve insisted.
"You're gonna stop me?" Tony questioned.
"Put on the suit, let's find out."
"I'm surrounded by children!" I said, grabbing the stress ball from the floor.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man," Tony declared strongly, knowing this would be the breaking point.
"Put on the suit," Steve spat, jaw clenched tightly.
"Everyone shut up!" I said, pushing my body in between them just before a loud explosion rocked the Helicarrier. Their bodies went flying into the wall, myself landing on top of Steve.
"Put on the suit," Steve said again, gently moving me off of himself.
"Yup," my Dad groaned as he got up and ran from the room.
"Hill," Fury grunted out into his comm.
"External detonation, number 3 engine is down." She said, as I moved to my room. Grabbing my Katana's, and slinging their sheaths to my back, I hoped that Steve had a Comm in.
"Who the hell is blowing holes in my ship?" I growled to Fury.
"Stark, copy that?" Fury said into the comm's.
"I'm on it!" Tony said in reply.
"Don't ruin my turbines Dad!" I said as I headed toward them.
"Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown. Head to the detention section, then get to the armory." I heard Fury say.
"Siren, get down here." I heard Coulson say. Making my way down, I noticed personnel that didn't seemed too alert with their guns. Following them silently, I saw Barton, but before I could alert someone, they turned and started shooting.
Evasively maneuvering, I was able to duck behind a wall. They each tried to attack me individually, but drawing my swords from their sheaths, I fought back. Slicing my way through the few, I could have cared less about their lives.
"Hostiles are in SHIELD gear, great." I panted, after sticking both swords through the last man's heart. Pulling them out, I re-sheathed, only to run towards the detention level.
All while I was fighting, Hulk and Thor were having it out, and my father and Steve were trying to fix the broken turbine. I felt another explosion rock the ship, and I growled, "STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP!"
"Why are we falling?" I said into my comm as I ran through the halls.
"Barton," Natasha said, to which my heart dropped.
"If he used any more explosives on my ship, I'll kill him." I said as I rounded a corner. Thor had just run into the room where we were keeping Loki and I knew this wouldn't be good. Running past that room as quick as I could, I saw Coulson coming up at the other entrance.
"Phil, be careful," I said, quietly approaching the first door.
"Move away please," I heard after a body dropped in the room. Peeking around the corner, I noticed Loki holding his hands in surrender, while Thor was trapped in his cell.
"Like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Shall we find out?" Phil asked nicely. Moving as quietly as I could, I tried to unlock the door for Thor, but before I could I heard something I knew too well. The sound of metal piercing flesh.
"Phil!" I cried out as Loki withdrew his spear. Trying to think rationally, I turned to leave but another magical hologram blocked my path. Preparing to draw my swords, I turned to attack Loki, who had snuck up on me. Taking me by the throat, I was no use against his strength. Even with all the training by Natasha, I was not strong enough to fight back.
"You'll be a nice prize, a fitting Queen to rule by my side," He said, a smirk on his face.
"Never," I said, spitting in his face as I clawed at his fingers. Two of his men came and bound me, as I screamed.
"I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch!" I shouted as I struggled. They dragged me out of the room, as I heard Phil start to speak.
"You're going to lose," I heard and sobbed. Phil was the man who recruited me, trained me, and mentored me. He was dying, and no one even knew.
"PHIL!" I sobbed and screamed at the men who dragged me away before one of them used the butt of his gun and hit me in the head, darkness overtaking my vision.
A/N: And I'm gonna leave it there. Sorry! But let me know what you thought. Anyone catch the Pirates of the Caribbean quote? :)
