Atea gasped. Loki? On Earth again? Is he still with that weird creature?
Fury pulled out a tablet, showing her a photo of glowing blue cube, "You know what this is, you've seen it before."
"That's the same thing in his sceptre in my dream! What is it anyway?"
"We call it the Tesseract. We found it along with Captain America, the buried super soldier. Loki stole it from us yesterday, also turning two of the smartest men I know into his slaves. We don't know where he's gone, but now we are at war with him."
"With Loki? But he was kinder when I left him..., he wasn't so violent."
"What did you say you saw in those visions? He was different in them, and now he's killed some of my men and stolen the most valuable artifact in the world."
"But he was tortured!" Atea shouted, "For all we know, he may not even know what he's doing! He could be under some form of subjugation!"
" And you screaming at us isn't going to make this any better!" Fury bellowed, grabbing Atea's arm. Atea was bewildered, we're at war with Loki now? Everything is happening too fast, he couldn't have killed those people... Could he?
"Just take deep breaths, everything will be all right," Hill said soothingly, but Atea didn't believe her. Nothing was going to be okay anymore.
"What are we going to be doing about it then?"
"You're asking too many questions."
"You don't expect me to just go about life here knowing that there is a war going on and not know what we'll do about it."
"I'll say this; we are bringing in some special people to stop him."
"What do you mean 'special'?" She asked suspiciously, Atea wondered if he meant people like her.
"Some of them are kind of like you, but still different. Highly skilled in different categories."
"Will they help him? Loki, I mean. Or will they just kill him?"
"We aren't looking to kill Loki. We want the Tesseract back, that's all. No more questions, go back to your room. We'll call you in a few hours."
"Why?"
"I said no more questions." Fury growled.
They arrived at Atea's room, then left her to her own devices.
"Atea, please report to the control room immediately." Fury's voice blared through the intercom, surprising Atea.
I wonder what this is about, she thought as she hurried out of the room. Hill and Fury were waiting for her there.
"So what's going on? I was in the middle of doing nothing."
"You remember what we said about Loki?"
"How could I forget?"
"Anyways, we've gathered the people we were telling you about, they're all here now. They came during your training."
"Okay, but what does this have to do with me?"
"We want you to meet them. You could be of assistance in capturing Loki so we want you to get to know them, since you may be fighting with them."
"Fury, I still think this is a bad idea." Hill interrupted, she looked angry.
"I know what you think Hill, and since we've already discussed this, I won't be listening."
Atea interjected, "Hang on a second. Did you say fight? Me? Like a battle?" She choked on the words.
"Yes. If we can train you well enough, you should be able to help us with your powers. They are a vital addition."
Atea's mind was reeling. She couldn't fight. She knew nothing. Atea didn't want to look scared though, if they thought she could fight, then she wanted to seem as brave as she could.
"Then I accept."
Fury looked delighted, while Hill glowered, "Excellent, if you'll follow us you can see the others. They aren't all here, one was. . . compromised."
Doesn't that mean dead in war terms?
"Also, we will be increasing your training to eight hours a day. Don't complain, you won't be bore anymore."
"Still, eight hours? Is that even healthy to work so much everyday?"
"Do you want to know what you can do? Because I have a feeling you want to more than we do."
Atea scowled, but Fury won this argument. They walked into the control room. There was a round table with three people sitting in the chairs looking bored. They don't look very happy, maybe they got off to a wrong start? One of them was a woman. She had short, fiery red hair and sharp features, the look on her face showed that she was bored, but still ready for anything. The other two were men. A man with glasses was fiddling with his hands, he had a kind demeanour, with curly dark hair and dark eyes. The other man had cropped blond hair, blue eyes and a strong jawline. He also had a very strong build. He reminded her a bit like Thor.
"Good afternoon people, I'd like you all to meet Atea Eriksen." Fury said, interrupting the uncomfortable silence.
They all turned to look at Atea. When they saw her, they looked shocked.
The red haired women furrowed her brow, "This isn't your best idea, Fury"
"I agree with Natasha. This is too dangerous for a sixteen year old girl." The man with the glasses said.
Atea was angry at how quickly they stereotyped her. She concentrated on a glass of water in front of Natasha , and not a second later, it exploded. She yelped jumped to her feet.
"Stop calling me weak." Atea bristled.
Fury seemed a bit surprised, but looked amused as well, "What were you saying about my plan?"
"You can't mean...," The man with the blond hair said, looking at Atea with interest, "she didn't do that, did she?"
"Yes she did, and that's the first time I've seen that too. Now I'll introduce you to the team. This is Natasha Romanoff, code name Black Widow," Natasha smiled at Atea, she seems friendly, Atea thought. Fury continued, "This is Steve Rodgers. Captain America. I don't know if you've heard of him, he's a bit old."
"Wasn't Captain America some super guy from like 70 years ago? How are you still alive?"
Steve laughed, "Ice preserves things quite well. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Eriksen."
"Last but certainly not least, this is Doctor Bruce Banner, a scientist."
Dr Banner looked worried when Fury was introducing him, as if he was scared Fury may say something he didn't want him to.
"You're a scientist? That's cool, I could use your help actually. Science class isn't really my thing and I could get a boost. That is, if I ever go to school again."
Banner smiled, obviously pleased that Atea was joking with him, "I would be glad to help you."
"Introductions over, now it's time to get to work. Banner, you know what to do. Romanoff, I want you to help in training Atea. Steve, you can... Help Romanoff as well if you want."
Steve looked a bit dejected by the fact that Fury didn't really know what to do with him, so Atea tried to cheer him up.
"Hey, training me is going to take a lot more work than you think. Hill and Romanoff aren't going to make me super hero potential on their own. We're going to need some superhuman help."
Steve smiled and nodded, "Well then, I know what to do now."
Suddenly, one of the agents shouted out, "Sir! We have a 67% match on Loki! Wait no - it's 80% now!"
Fury hurried to where the officer sat and looked at his computer. Sure enough, Loki's face was all over the screen.
"That's him, and he's not exactly hiding. Where did you find the match?"
"Stuttgart, Germany, sir."
"Okay. Steve, go suit up. Romanoff, prepare one of the planes."
Steve nodded and left the room, Romanoff hurried after him. Atea looked at the screen, staring at Loki's face. He looks better, but not the same. Maybe I could go, if I could only talk to Loki, it could change things!
"Director Fury!" Atea called, he turned away from the officer, "I was wondering, would it be okay if I could go? I may be of help."
"This wouldn't be the time, Atea. You're training isn't anywhere close to complete, and it's too dangerous; this won't go down without a fight."
A sudden thought came to Atea, "Wait! Everything just needs to stop!" She screamed, Fury was shocked, "This is in Stuttgart? I need to see that photo of him again." She ran to the computer and looked. No no no no no! This is my vision, it's real!
"Atea, what is it?"
"This can't be happening, oh my god," she was frantic, her breath shallow and there were spots in her vision.
"Calm down and tell me what's wrong."
"I saw this exact scene in my vision. Loki is wearing the same clothing, the surroundings are the same. Tonight, he is going to kill an old man, just for standing up to him."
"You saw this?"
"Yes! And we need to stop Loki, before it's too late."
"Well you win this time, Atea. Follow me."
They ran to the deck where Natasha and Steve were getting into a plane.
"Romanoff, wait. Atea is coming with you three."
"Are you crazy? It's too dangerous!" She shouted.
"You don't understand!"Atea yelled, "I've seen this already. I can help you!"
Natasha looked at Fury, then told Atea to get into the jet.
"I promise I won't leave this thing, I can just help you if you need to know what may happen."
"Sit up at the front with me," Natasha said, "Loki knows who you are, and if we get him tonight, we can't let him see you. He can't know that you're with us. Put on one of these helmets just to be careful, and make sure your hair isn't showing." Atea did as she was told.
"Hey, can you really see into the future?" Steve asked, looking curious.
"I - well, yeah. I'm not telling your future though. I'm not some psychic reader that rips you off. It just sort of happens."
"That's still impressive. I'm glad we have you with us." He smiled at Atea and she smiled back.
He's so... Old fashioned. But that's to be expected I guess.
"We're almost nearing our destination," Romanoff said from the front, "Anything you want to tell us, Atea?"
"I can tell you everything I saw, if you want. I don't know how much it'll help you."
"It'll be good if we know what could happen, what we'll be up against."
Atea recounted her first vision to them, explaining what Loki was up to and also about the brave old man. They both grimaced when she told them that he was going to be shot, but Steve intervened, "He hasn't technically been shot yet. And he won't if I'm there to stop him."
"Please stop him, that man can't die," she whispered.
"Is this the first death you've ever witnessed, Atea?"
She nodded, closing her eyes.
"Well I won't let it happen."
"Steve, you need to get out now!" Natasha shouted at him.
Steve grabbed a parachute, put it on and jumped out the fighter jet.
"It's going to be okay, Atea. He'll save that man."
Why am I hearing that so often now?