"'Ro, I promise I'll come back to the mansion in a couple weeks," Lorna said for the third time while on the phone with Ororo. The white-haired girl had been begging her to come back and live with them instead of at the Mutant Underground. Jean had urged the same, but for a completely different reason. Ororo wanted her back because in the younger's words, 'you're my older, green-haired sister! I need you!' Jean, on the other hand, had a different problem all together; Madelyne Pryor.
Madelyne had apparently stolen the spotlight in the mansion. Not only did she have the same powers as Jean, she wasn't afraid of them. Jean knew she was powerful; knew she could cause some real damage and didn't want that. She didn't want to become what she always feared she would. Madelyne used her powers with no remorse.
"Everyone misses you, though," Ororo complained and Lorna swore she could hear the pout from Georgia. "Besides, the new girl, the one that Jean hates? I'm pretty sure she's trying to move in on your mani" Lorna frowned.
"Ororo, I don't have a man."
"Wait, you and Alex aren't together?"
"What?" Lorna laughed. "No!"
"But you had sex, like, ten times when you were here."
"Hate to break it you, honey, but it was a lot more than ten."
"Um, that's gross. Well, if you two aren't together, at least Jean can calm down now. She was pretty sure that Madelyne was going after Scott, not Alex, at first," Ororo gossiped. "I think Scott had a bit of a thing for her, but I'm not sure if it was for Madelyne herself, or because of how much she's like Jean. They both have red hair, the same powers. It's weird, Lorna." She agreed. The similarities between Jean and Madelyne were eerie.
"You're talking to Lore? Hand me the phone," a deep voice echoed through the phone and Lorna knew it was Alex.
"You have her number, asshat. Call her yourself," Ororo argued. There was some scuffling, a few muffled curses before the winner came through the speakers.
"Was she telling you about Madelyne?" Alex questioned.
"Yes," Lorna confirmed. "What do you think of her?"
"She's powerful; scarily powerful. I'd hate to see what would happen if she and Jean ever fought." Lorna couldn't dispute that. She thought the same thing. There'd be devastation left in their wake. "But, she's also interesting and funny. I kind of like her, Lore," he confessed.
"Go for it, Al," she encouraged. "If you think she could make you happy, then do it." She paused when her other line rang. "Just a second, Al." She glanced at the caller ID and tensed. "I'm going to have to call you back."
"Okay," he answered, sounding confused at the serious tone her voice shifted to. They hung up and Lona accepted the call.
"Good, you know how to follow directions."
"'You call, I answer'," she parroted. "What's going on, Fury?"
"Pack a bag for a few days; you're getting called in. Coulson will be there to pick you up in an hour. Be ready." The phone call disconnected, and Lorna took a deep breath. This was it. She ran to her room, almost knocking Sonya over in her haste. The redhead followed her into her room and just watched as Lorna quickly grabbed a duffle bag and was tossing things in.
"Are you going somewhere?" She questioned.
"Yeah, I'll be gone for a few days," Lorna answered distractedly as she tossed a spare toothbrush and toothpaste in the bag, followed by some deodorant.
"You just got back," Sonya protested. "Does this have to do with what you can't tell us?" Lorna nodded. Sonya sighed and quickly grabbed her green-haired friend in a hug. "Just be careful and come back soon. It'll be weird with both Marcos and you gone at the same time." Marcos still helped out the Underground, but he had moved in permanently with Carmen a few weeks previous. Without Lorna holding him back, their relationship took off. She was surprisingly happy for them and couldn't wait to do the same.
Sonya walked out of the room, most likely do tell everyone that Lorna was leaving, as she was zipping up her bag. She looked over at an untouched bag in the corner. Inside was a custom-made suit from Hank. It was similar to the X-Men suit, but tighter and it reminded her of the skintight cat suit Romanov wore, and it was all black with dark green accents. Erik had woven metal through the seams so she could lift herself up without putting so much pressure on the metal bands usually worn around her wrists. The boots that came with it were steel-toed, but also had steel in the half-inch high heels as well. It would make any blow more devastating to her foe. She contemplated for a heartbeat longer before snagging the bag along with her duffle and looking at the time. She had ten more minutes before Coulson would be there, but knowing him, he was already waiting.
Lorna hurried out of her room and exited the building after saying a few quick goodbyes. She felt a little bad leaving John by himself again, but she was also thinking of asking Clarice to take her place. She loved what she did with the Underground, but she had basically abandoned them for five months; something that none of them deserved. They needed a better leader than her. Someone who was focused and driven. Someone who would give their all to their cause; Clarice was that.
She was lost in thought and didn't even noticed she passed the barrier until she smacked into a car. Knocked out of her daze, Lorna noticed it was the same unmarked SUV as before and Coulson was waiting by the backdoor. "I've been here for ten minutes," he said in greeted.
"Fury told me I had an hour," she retorted. "It's only been fifty minutes." He moved back and silently held open the door for her before climbing into the passenger seat. "What's going on? Fury didn't tell me anything over the phone." Instead of answering, Coulson tossed back a few files. There was one on Romanov, Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers – "Captain America is alive?" She breathed, leaning forward in excitement. Coulson's lip twitched, as if he was fighting a smile.
"Yes," was his clipped answer, but Lorna felt he wanted to say so much more. There was another file on Doctor Bruce Banner and one on a man named Loki. The further she got in the reading on him, the more she realized that he wasn't a human man; he was basically a God. The same one from Norse mythology. She read some more on him and then moved on to what he had stolen; the tesseract. There wasn't a lot of information on it, but there was enough for her to gather that was an energy source of some kind that an astrophysicist named Erik Selvig had been studying. Most of what he wrote in his notes went over her head, if she was being honest. She loved science growing up and she had to know at least a bit of physics when using her powers, but she didn't know a damn thing about astrophysics.
She rubbed her eyes tiredly and looked out the window to see them on the same airstrip from before. "Where are we going?" She asked, getting out the car and following Coulson to a jet.
"New York; we're picking up Stark."
"Security breach!" Stark shouted while sitting on a couch with a very pretty redhead.
"Phil," the redhead greeted warmly, moving towards them with a smile.
"Phil?" Stark muttered in disdain. "Uh, his first name is 'Agent'. And her hair is green," he commented, looking surprised after noticing her standing behind Coulson.
"You have something blue shining through your shirt," Lorna responded, motioning towards the arc reactor nestled in his chest cavity.
"Yeah, it's my-"
"I know what it is, I thought we were just stating the obvious," she sassed.
"Now that you two have met, Stark, meet Lorna Dane. Dane, meet Stark." They nodded to each other in greeting.
"I'm Pepper Potts," the redhead said, holding a freshly manicured hand towards Lorna. She shook it lightly.
"Lorna Dane." Miss Potts tilted her head slightly, curious.
"Green hair is a bold fashion statement." Lorna lifted her shoulder in half-hearted shrug, trying for indifferent.
"A bit of a side-effect from my mutation," she replied airily. Miss Potts' shoulders stiffened a bit and she seemed to suddenly become wary of the mutant.
"You're a mutant?" Stark asked excitedly. When Lorna nodded, Stark started firing off questions. "What's your mutation? Is that why you're here? About the Avengers Imitative? Fury wanted a mutant for more fire power?" He paused. "Are you actual fire power?"
"No, I'm not actual fire power. My mutation is ElectroMagnetokinesis, not fire manipulation."
"So, metal manipulation. That's kind of more badass in my opinion." Lorna raised a dark eyebrow in amusement.
"Glad to meet your expectations."
"Is this about the Avengers?" Miss Potts questioned, moving her attention from Lorna to Coulson. "Which I know nothing about," she added quickly.
"I thought that was scrapped," Stark piped in, looking over the files Coulson handed to Miss Potts, who gladly handed them over to Stark.
"Didn't know that, either."
"Besides, I thought I didn't qualify; I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."
"That I did know," Miss Potts said, shooting Lorna a quick wink. Stark called her over and they spoke lowly for a couple minute before sharing a kiss. "Any chance you're heading by La Guardia?"
"As a matter of fact, we are," Coulson answered, moving to meet Miss Potts by the elevator doors.
"How are things going with the cellist?"
"Didn't work out."
"Boo," the redhead pouted, pushing the button for the bottom floor and slipped on some flipflops she had grabbed from the floor. As they rode the elevator down to the first floor, Lorna studied her dark green polished nails in boredom. Where was the action?
A few hours later, Lorna was dropped off on a Helicarrier while Coulson left to go pick up Captain America. Romanov walked towards her in civilian clothes, her emotionless mask on full display, and her hair was cut shorter; a little above shoulder length, and even her usually icy blue-green eyes seemed colder. "Dane," the redhead greeted.
"Romanov," the dark green-haired mutant replied back. "I heard about Barton; I'm sorry. How are you holding up?"
"He's not dead," Romanov snapped. Lorna raised an eyebrow.
"I'm aware, but the man who has him under control is the one we're going up against; that means we're going up against Barton," she explained. "Just wanted to make sure you understood that I was sorry. It's rough knowing your family is on the other side of that line." She shouldered the bags she packed and moved passed the assassin and to find an unoccupied room to stay in for the time she was there.
She found one a few minutes later, double checking some drawers and the closet to make sure there were no clothes strewn about before she decided to claim the room as hers. "Good, you found a room," Fury's deep voice echoed through the silent room. Lorna turned her head and saw him standing in the doorway, looking just as intimidating as always.
"Fury," she greeted coolly, leaving her suit out on her bed for when she needed it. She was pretty sure she wasn't about to get any sleep.
"Meet me up top in five," he ordered before turning and stalking down the hallway. Lorna finished getting her things situated before following the order and heading outside to meet everyone. Instead of seeing Fury, however, she saw Romanov making her way to a confused looking man who Lorna realized was Doctor Bruce Banner.
As she got closer, she realized that Coulson was back and heading towards Banner with Captain America in tow. Jesus, he was fucking ripped. She met them as Coulson was doing introductions. "Captain Rogers, meet Agent Natasha Romanov, Doctor Bruce Banner, and Lorna Dane." Lorna waved a bit and Romanov let out an unimpressed, "hi," in the Captain's general direction. Lorna wasn't surprised; as a Russian, she didn't grow up hearing the stories about the heroic Captain America.
"Captain," Banner greeted, reaching out to shake his hand.
"I heard you can help us track down the cube," Rogers said after a firm pump with his hand.
"Is that the only word you've heard?" Banner questioned timidly making Lorna raise an eyebrow curiously. This man is the Hulk? Seriously?
"The only one I care about," Rogers retorted with a small smile. Movement erupted around them, Agents moving to tie down jets and other things that could fall off the side. What was happening?
"We should probably take this inside," Romanov suggested, not the least bit phased as engines started whirring around them and it hit Lorna that they were about to go airborne. "It's going to get a bit hard to breathe."
"Is this a submarine?" Rogers questioned, moving to the side of the Helicarrier.
"They want me in a submarine?" Banner questioned, slowly following the Captain to the edge. Romanov and Lorna shared a brief amused glance as they watched the two men figure it out. "Oh, no, this is much worse." As they slowly started rising, they all entered the Helicarrier and made their way to the bridge where Fury was ordering them to disappear. Lorna watched one of the monitors showing reflective panels activating to make it seem like they were invisible.
"Okay, that's pretty cool," she admitted to Romanov in a low tone making the redhead smirk. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rogers looking around in amazement and hand Fury a ten-dollar bill he had just pulled out of his wallet. Fury pocketed the bill with a smirk.
"Thank you for coming, Doctor," Fury said to Banner.
"Thank you for asking nicely," Banner replied. "How long will I be staying?"
"Once we get the tesseract, you can be in the wind again."
"We're accessing every wirelessly accessible phone on the planet and anything that's connected to a satiate," Coulson supplied from where he was leaning at a station, looking at multitudes of video from phones and cameras.
"Call every lab you knew and tell them to give us access to spectrometers and calibrate them for gamma rays," Banner ordered, sliding off his jacket and rolling up his shirt sleeves. "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. We can at least rule out of few places."
"Romanov, escort Doctor Banner to his lab," Fury ordered.
"Follow me, Doc, we got all the toys," Romanov said, leading Banner down the hall.
"I'll go with them," Lorna said, speaking for the first time in a minute. In all honesty, Rogers made her nervous. He was from a time where mutants had to hide in fear and probably would've been shot on sight because no one understood what mutants were. He was a wild card and Lorna didn't like it. Fury nodded his consent and tossed her a comm. The dark green-haired mutant quickly caught up with the doctor and the Russian, slipping the small device into her ear.
As they reached the lab, Romanov made her leave, leaving Lorna alone with Banner. Not that she minded. She happened to enjoy Banner's quiet nature and just watched quietly as the man set everything up and went about his algorithm. "So, why did they bring you in?" Banner questioned.
"I'm the muscle," she joked.
"I can see that," he deadpanned back. She smiled and raised her hand floating the tool he was reaching for just out of his grasp. He blinked up at her in shock. "You're a mutant?"
"Did the green hair not give it away?"
"Kids these days," he shrugged. "I can never tell anymore."
"Yes, I'm a mutant. I have ElectroMagnetokinesis," she explained, dropping the tool in his still waiting palm.
"Like that one guy – Lehnsherr, right? The mutant activist?"
"Yeah, he's my father," she admitted.
"My condolences," he said without missing a beat, typing away at the computer in front of him. Lorna barked out a surprised laugh, not expecting the snark from the quiet man. She really enjoyed his sense of humor.
"Dane, you copy?" Romanov's voice cut through the quiet and into her ear. Lorna placed her finger on the comm to answer.
"I copy- what's up, Romanov?"
"Loki has been spotted in Germany. I'm leaving with the Captain to apprehend him. Stay with the doctor and make sure he keeps working on finding the cube."
"Roger that," Lorna answered back and then looked up to see Banner glancing at her curiously.
"What's happening?"
"Loki was spotted in Germany," she said. "Rogers and Romanov are heading that way now to get him."
"Shouldn't you be going with them?" Lorna shook her head.
"No, I shouldn't be used until absolutely necessary. People wouldn't handle seeing a mutant on TV right now very well, even if I am helping," she explained. Banner nodded in understanding and went back to work.
A few hours later, they were back with Loki in tow as well as his brother, Thor, and Stark. "Looks like we missed the fun, Doctor Banner," Lorna joked as they all entered in the bridge, sans Stark. He was probably getting his suit taken off. After everyone took a seat, Rogers started things off.
"Loki wants to drag this out," he assured. "Thor, what's his plan?"
"He has an army called the Chitauri," Thor supplied. "They are not of Asgard nor of any other world known. He will lead them against the Earth's people and once he wins Earth, they get the tesseract."
"So, that's why he needs Selvig," Banner concluded. "He's building another portal."
"Selvig?" Thor questioned, looking surprised.
"He's an astrophysicist. Loki has him under some kind of mind control," Romanov said. "Along with one of our own."
"He's a friend," Thor added solemnly.
"Why would Loki let us take him? He's not leading any armies from his cell," Rogers pointed out.
"We shouldn't be focusing on Loki. His brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell the crazy on him."
"Have care with how you speak," Thor warned. "Loki may be beyond reason, but he is still of Asgard and he still my brother."
"He killed eighty people in two days," Romanov deadpanned. Thor seemed to pause for a moment.
"He's adopted," he finished lamely. Lorna let out a sigh and rubbed at her temples lightly. She'd been a room with most of this 'team' for less than five minutes, and she could already feel a headache coming on.
This whole thing was going to go down in flames. She could feel it.