Here's chapter 11 everybody.
Chapter 11: Tensions Rise.
In Bruce's lab, Danny and Bruce were examining Loki's staff, while Tony was sitting at a nearby table munching on some blueberries. Bruce was using a device to scan Loki's scepter before Danny picks it up to feel its power.
"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract. But it's going to take weeks to process." Bruce said.
"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops." Tony said.
"I also can feel the power this scepter is giving. Powerful than the Infi-Map, or the Reality Gauntlet, which I destroyed it." Danny said.
"You know, I like to hear about that sometime. Visit your parents, see their inventions, and learn about these ghosts and their technology." Bruce said.
"That'll be great. I have some Fenton tech with me right now." Danny said.
"All I packed was a toothbrush." Bruce said as Tony walked over.
"You know, you two should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'll both love it. It's Candy Land." Tony said.
"Hmm, love to see your tower, Tony. Let's just hope my parents won't mind. I bet they'll add anti-ghost tech as well." Danny said. "I'll be right back. Something's been bugging me since that skirmish in Germany."
Danny leaves Bruce's lab, leaving Bruce and Tony alone.
"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem." Bruce said.
"Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises." Tony said, as he poked Bruce with a device.
"Ow!" Bruce yelled from the electric discharged.
"Hey!" Steve said walking in the lab.
"Nothing?" Tony asked Bruce.
"Are you nuts?" Steve asked Tony, for he didn't not want the Hulk to go on a rampage on board the Helicarrier.
"Jury's out. You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's you secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" Tony asked.
"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked sternly.
"Funny things are." Tony commented.
"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, Doc." Steve said.
Meanwhile, Danny walked at the corridors of the Helicarrier, heading to the direction of Loki's cell. He wants his own interrogation on Loki. What's bugging him is what he said about him back at Germany. In his cell Loki, was seem off guard by his appearance.
"Not all ghosts can sneak up on me. What do you want, child?" Loki asked.
Danny's eyes glow a deadly green and his fists curled up.
"Young adult now. I wanna know what you meant by the prophecy will not do me good? 'Cause I seriously doubt that." Danny said sternly.
"I see confidence in you." Loki chuckled. "Answer me this, young Midgardian draugr, why protect this planet? You could have taken this world on your own, but you instead choose to protect it." Loki said.
"That's not who I am." Danny replied with a scowl, thinking about his once evil future, and his evil future self.
"Then what are you? A child, who wants acceptances from his peers? A normal life? That's something you'll never have. You're a half-dead creature, who's an abomination. What kind of normal life can you have?" Loki said.
Danny was shaking in anger and doubt Loki's words. Loki pressed on.
"You will have more future battles, some that you'll never imagine than the ones you had before, and you will face draugrs, powerful than the ones you fought before, and some that seeks revenge. And once that's done, they will all fear you. Your family, your friends, your other super friends. Better yet, if I was them, I would have put you in a table and dissect you open." Loki said.
That comment built Danny's anger, but he was able to calm down and look at Loki straight in the eye before saying...
"I may not have a normal life, but I'll tell one thing, yes I will have future battles, more worse than the ones before. And yes, I am capable of doing much worse, and I strive every single day to make myself better than that, and my family and friends will always support me to the end. I made peace with that part of me a long time ago." Danny said before starting to leave, before looking at him. "I learned about you in school, before Thor arrived here at Earth. No wonder why you're called the god of mischief. You're another seriously crazed-up fruitloop."
Danny left the cell room and start heading to the bridge. As he nears the bridge, he is met by Natasha.
"That was impressive what you did back there." Natasha said.
"What are you talking about." Danny asked, confused.
"That exchange you had with Loki." Natasha replied.
"How did you know?" Danny asked, kinda shock.
"I saw the whole thing on the monitor." Natasha said with a smirk.
"Oh." Danny said with his head down.
"Don't worry. You did good. Are you all right?" Natasha said.
"Yeah. I'm all right. Thanks for your concern." Danny replied.
"Don't flatter yourself." Natasha said placing her hand on Danny's shoulder.
"Thanks, Ms. Romanoff." Danny said.
"You can call me Natasha if you want." Natasha said with a smile.
With that, Danny and Natasha go their separate ways. Danny arrives at the bridge, where he noticed that Steve wasn't there and saw Coulson speaking to Thor. He approach them.
"As soon as Loki took the doctor, we moved Jane Foster." Coulson said to Thor. Jane Foster is a astrophysicist and a woman that Thor fell in love with during his time in New Mexico during his banishment from Asgard. Thor still has feelings for her. "They've got an excellent observatory in Tromsø. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe."
"Thank you. "Thor said. "It's no accident, Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man."
"He talks about you a lot. You changed his life. You changed everything around here." Coulson said.
"Speaking of that, my girlfriend Sam would love to meet you. She was into Norse mythology. She was surprise that is was real when you showed up. You change her interest in mythology." Danny said.
"They were better as they were. We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced but we come here, battling like bilge snipe." Thor said.
"Like what?" Coulson and Danny said at the same time.
"Bilge snipe. You know, huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?" Thor asked.
Danny and Coulson looked at each other before saying...
"Nope. I don't think so."
"No. And I hope I don't see one."
"Well, they are repulsive. And they trample everything in their path." Thor said before looking out the window. "When I first came to Earth, Loki's rage followed me here, and your people paid the price. And now, again. In my youth, I courted war." Thor said.
"Don't worry, this war won't happen, 'cause all of us together can stop Loki and his plans. And I know it too." Danny said placing a hand on Thor's shoulder, making him smile.
"War hasn't started yet." said Fury. "You think you could make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?"
"I do not know. Loki's mind is far afield. It's not just power he craves, it's vengeance, upon me. There's no pain would pries his need from him." Thor said.
"A lot of guys think that until the pain starts. " Fury commented.
"What are you asking me to do?" Thor asked.
"I'm asking, what are you prepared to do?" Fury said.
"Loki is a prisoner." Thor stated.
"Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?" Fury said.
Meanwhile, after hearing Loki's interrogations with Danny and Fury, Natasha pretty much has him in the bag in her upcoming interrogation. She observe him pacing in his cell for a moment and seemed off guard by her appearance for a moment.
"There's not many people who can sneak up on me." Loki said coyly.
"But you figured I'd come." Natasha said.
"After." Loki commented. "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 said, getting straight to the point.
"I would say I've expanded his mind." Loki replied.
"And once you've won, once you're king of the mountain, what happens to his mind?" Natasha asked.
"Oh...Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Loki smiled at this.
"Love is for children. I owe him a debt." Natasha commented.
Loki walked back at his cell and gestured to her and sitting down.
"Tell me." Loki said.
Natasha sat down in a nearby chair before continuing.
"Before I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D... I. Uh... Well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who used it for, or on. I got on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call." Natasha said. Loki smirked.
"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" Loki asked.
"Not let you out." Natasha replied plainly.
"No, but like this." Loki smirked. "Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man."
"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that. I'm Russian. Or I was." Natasha shrugged.
"And what are you now?" Loki asked.
"It's not really that complicated." Natasha replied, getting up from her seat. "I got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."
"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red?" Loki pressed. "Dreykov's daughter, São Paulo, the hospital fire? Barton told me everything." Loki said rising from his seat, and slowly approach the glass. "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 his fist on the glass, causing Natasha to jump. "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." Loki said, making Natasha turned away in horror, making sure Loki doesn't see her weeping. "This is my bargain, you mewling quim."
"You're a monster." Natasha whimpered making Loki chuckled.
"Oh, no. You brought the monster." Loki said, making Natasha turned around, showing no evidence of her weeping.
"So, Banner. That's your play." Natasha said.
"What?" Loki, said confused by Natasha's statement.
Natasha immediately heads for the exit, before pressing her earpiece and said...
"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab. I'm on my way. Send Thor as well."
Natasha turn to face Loki one final time before saying...
"Thank you for your cooperation."
Fury has walked in Bruce's lab. He is now aware of Natasha's discovery of Loki's play. He's also aware that Stark has also hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files using his A.I. assistant JARVIS.
"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Fury asked just as Danny phased through the ceiling with a concern look on his face.
"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony replied.
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury said to Tony, as if he is talking to a child.
"We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce said pointing to a nearby monitor.
"Yeah, then you get your Cube back. No muss, no fuss." Tony said before looking at a screen. "What is 'Phase 2'?"
"'Phase 2'?" Danny asked in concern.
Before Fury can reply, Steve suddenly walked in the lab and place two rifles on the table. One was silver, with a familiar looking symbol to Steve and Danny. As a Captain America fan, Danny recognized the symbol, and realized the weapon as an old World War Two era HYDRA Assault Rifle. HYDRA was an old Nazi para-military terrorist organization that Steve fought against during World War Two and has been defeated after the war. Danny, of course, is against HYDRA and its views. Danny saw the other rifle. This one was also silver, but it had a green glow in some areas, which is suspicious to Danny as this particular rifle looks suspiciously like a ghost hunting weapon.
"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons." Steve said getting Danny out of his thoughts. "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're making..." Fury tried to explain, but Tony cut him off.
"I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?" Tony said showing plans for a missile-like weapon.
"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said as Thor and Natasha entered the lab.
"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Natasha.
"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha asked, as she saw the tension rising around everyone.
"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed." Bruce said.
"Loki is manipulating you." Natasha said, letting Bruce know of Loki's plan.
"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Bruce said, becoming agitated.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha said, trying to remain calm.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Bruce said.
All eyes went to Fury.
"Because of them." Fury said, pointing at Thor and Danny.
Both Danny and Thor were confused and look at each other.
"Me?" Thor asked.
"Why the two of us?" Danny asked.
"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. And three years ago, another small town disappeared off the map after it was invaded by an huge army of the dead. We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." Fury said referring to the Pariah Dark Incident at Amity Park and the Battle of Puente Antiguo at New Mexico.
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor stated.
"Not all ghosts in the Ghost Zone are evil. It's only those selected ones that causes trouble." Danny stated.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat." Fury stated to Thor before turning his attention to Danny. "And you're not the only powerful one, are you. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."
"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve asked sternly.
"And I've been controlling these ghosts for three years, what's your point?" Danny scoffed.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor stated.
"A higher form." Steve asked, not liking the sound of it.
"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Fury said.
"A nuclear deterrent. Because that's always calms everything right down." Tony snorted.
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark." Fury said, rounding on Tony.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep..." Steve said, before Tony cut him off, shock by the statements towards him.
"Hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony asked.
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked Tony sternly.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor said.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury said to Thor.
"You treat your champions with such mistrust." Thor stated.
"Are you boys really that naive?" Natasha asked. "S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats."
"Captain America's on threat watch?" Bruce asked, agitated.
"We all are." Natasha replied.
"Wait, you're on that list?" Tony asked. "Are you above or below angry bees?"
"Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack..." Steve warned.
"Threat! Verbal threat. I feel threatened." Tony said.
"Show some respect." Steve scowled.
"Respect what?" Tony asked.
The room suddenly erupted into a huge argument. Everyone, except Danny, was arguing, leaving him in the middle of it, with Steve and Tony arguing at each other, Fury, Thor, Bruce, and Natasha going at each other. Danny definitely did not like this at all. His new teammates should be working together stopping Loki, not fighting and talking back at each other. Danny needed to do something to defuse the situation.
"Uh, guys." Danny said but the arguing continued. "Guys."
Danny tried again until he lay his eyes on Loki's scepter. He noticed the tip was glowing brighter as the arguing built. He realized that the scepter is doing something to making the arguing bad to the point that it will triggered the Hulk. It's a ticking time bomb, and everyone's safety, including his teammates and himself, is at risk.
Meanwhile, the Helicarrier detects an incoming suspicious Quinjet.
"Transport Six-Six-Bravo, please relay confirm codes. I've got you on the computer, but not on the day log. What is your haul? Over." a female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent said from the intercom.
"Arms and ammunition." the pilot of the Quinjet respond.
The Quinjet, which is actually stolen, consist of Loki's mind-controlled henchmen in S.H.I.E.L.D. gear preparing to assault the carrier. Among them is Clint, preparing his bow and arrow.
Back at Bruce's lab, the arguing continued, with Danny trying to defuse the situation before Thor said...
"You speak of control, yet court chaos."
"That's his M.O., isn't it. I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb." Bruce stated, which Danny thought of that moments ago.
"You need to step away." Fury warned.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony said, placing his hand on Steve's shoulder, which he slap it away.
"You know damn well why. Back off!" Steve said, having enough of Tony's wisecracks.
"I'm starting to want you to make me." Tony said. Steve scoffed at his comment.
"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?" Steve asked.
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony replied, which Natasha and Danny giving a true that face.
"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. 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." Steve said.
"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony said, making Steve smirk at that comment.
"Always a way out. You may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero." Steve said.
"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." Tony said sternly.
Back outside the Quinjet, Clint aims his arrow at one of the Helicarrier's turbine engines and shoots the arrow, but didn't detonate it.
Back at the lab, Steve and Tony are still arguing at each other.
"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Steve said, challenging Tony to a one-on-one bout.
"How bout not." Danny suggested, making Thor laugh.
"You people are so petty and tiny." Thor said.
"Yeah, this is a team." Bruce said mockingly.
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Doctor Banner to his..." Fury try to order Natasha but was cut off by Bruce.
"Where? You rented my room." Bruce said.
"The cell was just in case..." Bruce interrupted Fury again.
"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't, I know, I tired." Bruce said, causing everyone to look at him. "I got low. 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." Bruce said before turning his attention to Natasha. "Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"
Fury and Natasha were about to drawn their weapons out off their holsters until Fury said...
"Doctor Banner, put down the scepter."
"Like right now." Danny said with concern.
Bruce was confused until he saw that he was actually holding the scepter. Suddenly, the monitor beeped, indicating that the Tesseract has been tracked down.
"Got it." Fury said as Bruce put down the scepter.
"Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all." Bruce said.
"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.
"Tell me the location and I can get there." Danny said.
"I could get there fastest." Tony said.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it." Thor stated.
"You're not going alone." Steve said stopping Tony.
"You're gonna stop me?" Tony said, restarting their argument.
"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve said challenging Tony again.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony said, disrespecting Steve.
"Put on the suit." Steve demanded.
"This is not the time to be arguing again!" Danny said, having enough of Steve's and Tony's nonsense against each other.
Bruce checks where the Tesseract is located at before saying...
"Oh my God."
At that moment, a huge explosion, caused by Clint detonating his arrow, rocked the Helicarrier, blowing the Avengers and Fury in different directions. Natasha, Bruce and Danny blown out a window below deck. Steve and Tony towards one corner of the lab, and Thor and Fury at a hallway.
"Put on the suit." Steve said.
"Yep." Tony said as the two run out the lab.
That's the end of the chapter. I think I made a little spoiler during Danny's interrogation against Loki on what's to come for Danny. Also, the part with HYDRA, you got to remember that this takes place before the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. So no one knows that HYDRA is not really defeated. Anyway, please review. :)