Lake Eerie wasn't a random choice. In addition to being close enough for the GAV to make the trip, if things did go as badly as Sam thought they would, the lake provided a way to escape ground-bound pursuit, and even a temporary respite from enemies in the air.
It wasn't widely advertised –because Jazz's parents didn't have much opportunity to use it, rather than any desire to keep it secret – but the Ops Center's carriage could be safely submerged underwater, and even had rudimentary maneuvering capability.
If that failed… well, Lake Eerie was a thin spot. Walker's second incursion was proof of that. Not to mention the vicious lake monster. Jazz hoped that SHIELD's lack of experience with ghosts would make finding them in the woods if they had to flee that way.
Or, if they got really desperate, they could use the porta-portal or the bazooka. Try their luck in the Ghost Zone.
Jazz hoped it wouldn't come to that.
The (Fentonworks New and Improved!) radar pinged at about the same time the wireless connection to the GAV came online.
"So…" said Sam, "I'll go out, you keep an eye on things in here."
Jazz nodded, leaning forward to peer out the window in the direction the jet was supposed to come. So far, she couldn't see it.
Considering the way the 'helicarrier' had been cloaked, that didn't mean anything. She looked back down at the radar.
"The SHIELD guys should be here first if this is accurate," she said.
"Great. Be ready to take arrow boy hostage."
"I've told you my name," complained arrow boy. "I've even told you my code name. You don't have to call me that."
Sam snorted and looked over her shoulder on her way out. "Whatever you say, arrow boy."
.
"Hey," said Tucker, without preamble, "remind me what Danny had us take again."
Sam glanced behind him at the small crowd. Tony Stark was a lot shorter in person than he looked on TV. Dr. Banner – a surprisingly common face in Casper High science lessons – was frowning down at a large, screened box in his hands. Captain America was… Well, it was kind of weird to see the guy who rescued your great-grandparents from death or worse. She might not exist without him. Thor was practically indescribable. What did you even say about a guy like that? The only woman, who must be Romanov, Black Widow, stayed by their plane, leaning against one of the door supports in a way that looked casual but was anything but. Valerie stood slightly apart, her suit retracted for the moment, glaring at everyone.
"I think it's fine," said Tucker. "All things considered."
"All things considered," repeated Sam.
"A bunch of the spare portal parts. The porta-portal. Shields, for both humans and ghosts. The ecto-converter. Some other random parts I can't remember. Not anything we usually work with. Jazz knew what it was."
Tucker nodded. "Okay, yeah. I think I know what he wanted us to do with all of this."
"So do I," said Sam.
"I got kidnapped," pointed out Tucker.
"We didn't kidnap you," said Romanov.
"You kind of did."
"Jazz got shot," countered Sam.
"Speaking of which, where is Barton?"
Sam pointed. "Inside."
"Not like him to not come out."
"That's because he's still tied up," said Sam. "We wanted to make sure you weren't going to come guns blazing. Or with your giant spaceship thing."
"Well," said Stark, loudly, "we thought that would be kind of a bad idea with all the spies—Sorry, the spies that were spying on the spies."
Captain America pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you ever stop?"
"Hey, you should be thanking me. I just—"
"You have no idea what HYDRA is capable of."
"Um," said Tucker. "Can we go in?"
"Yeah, no," said Sam. "We're waiting for someone else."
"Oh, no," said Tucker. "Come on, did you guys really-?"
"Yeah," said Sam. "We needed backup."
"And what am I?"
"Down a staff, it looks like."
Tucker shot a glare at Romanov.
"You're not getting it back until I see Barton. Speaking of equipment, boys, I don't see anywhere to park our bus on that thing, so you'd better help unload."
"Can you—Actually, I'm getting a lot of weird readings on this thing—"
"I'm telling you, man, it's the ectoplasm."
Banner frowned slightly at Tucker and looked back at his machine even as he wandered back to the jet. "Gamma radiation makes much more sense."
"Does it, though?" asked Tucker. "I mean, like. Your whole everything… Radiation shouldn't really do that."
"He's got a point there," said Tony Stark as he hauled a set of boxes out on a hand trolley. "The whole… Hulking out thing. Doesn't seem to follow conservation of matter—Have you looked into that?"
"In between running from jingoistic lunatics, sure."
The sound of an engine made everyone turn. The GAV rounded the corner a few minutes later, turning so sharply that it almost tipped over. Seconds later, it narrowly missed hitting the jet and pancaking Stark and Banner and disgorged Jack and Maddie, waving guns.
.
The thing was, Sam, Tucker, and even Valerie, to some extent, were used to the Fentons' antics. Stark and Banner were not. Banner, as they had just been discussing, had superpowers activated by adrenaline and an elevated heartrate. Anger was the main trigger, but fear… Fear worked too.
It looked like Sam would get to say 'I told you so' a lot earlier than she'd thought.
.
"How often do human… teenagers… have to sleep?"
"Hm?" asked Selvig, dropping the small component he'd been handling with tweezers. He swore and dove after it.
"I suppose I should ask how frequently adult humans need to sleep, instead," said Loki with a sneer and a roll of his eyes.
"Well," said Selvig with a chuckle, "usually we try to sleep once a day. Eight hours is the recommended amount. But, heh, you know, academics, we don't really follow the rules, you know? You know. Right? I mean, you're up there in space and all… Do they have academics in space?"
"Arguably," said Danny, "all astronauts are academics of some sort or another. Scientists, right? Although, the earlier ones were military, so I suppose they weren't. But I guess the question is more about whether or not Loki's people have academics. Do you have academics?"
Loki turned slightly to look at the boy incredulously. Danny blinked back up at him.
"Don't—" Loki cut himself off before he could say something that could be construed as an order and looked back at Selvig who was trying to lower a piece of equipment into a padded carrying case but kept missing the hole in the shaped 'styrofoam.' "How often do teenagers need to sleep?"
"About the same?" said Selvig vaguely. "I think they're supposed to get more to stay healthy, but I've never had children. Unless you count my students! Ha!" He finally got the part into the Styrofoam hole and smiled triumphantly at Loki. "Fits like a glove!"
Danny leaned forward to peer at the box. Loki pushed him back.
Loki could care less about any of his thralls staying healthy, but he needed them to at least last long enough to get his army. To get the chitauri. His staff could not keep them awake indefinitely. Eventually, their endurance would wane and fail. Or so he had been told.
The staff, like the army, was a loaner.
It matched with the rules of magic he was familiar with, however. No spell was perfect or unbreakable, no matter how powerful the focus, and the realm of dreams was… strange.
That was the only reason for his concern. No other.
"You could always let us sleep, if you're so worried," said Danny. "How often do your people need to sleep? Asgardians, right? Or are you an Asgardian if you're adopted? I mean, you and Thor look alike, but then you guys look like humans, too, and that's not what I would have expected from aliens, overall."
Loki rolled his eyes. Danny was evidently one of those aggravating people who became more talkative with fatigue. "My father sleeps once a year." Well. The Odinsleep happened once a year. And Loki was technically a Jotun, not an Asgardian. But that hardly mattered. Loki did not need to sleep. He was not tired. He had no desire to close his eyes and see—
"Is that your actual dad, or, like, your biological dad?"
Gods did not groan.
.
Jazz seriously hoped they didn't need anything on that jet, because it didn't look remotely salvageable after that.
"Hey!" called Barton. "What's going on out there?"
Jazz was having enough trouble trying to trigger the right controls with only one hand. She didn't answer. Could she-? No, the Ops Center portal generator didn't work that way. She couldn't punch the coordinates for that. What she could do, however…
She hit the activation button, and the shield sprang into being with the Hulk on one side and everyone else on the inside, Captain America's shield ding -ing off the shield in a way that resonated loudly enough to hurt Jazz's ears. The Hulk ran into the shield at full speed and rebounded, stumbling back into the lake. He roared, clearly furious. Ripples spread across the water.
… And the Lake Eerie Monster rose from the depths.
The Hulk whirled and leapt at the new combatant. The fight sent water splashing, huge waves breaking over the shore. Jazz hissed, adjusting the shield to keep the water out. How much air did they have? Jazz couldn't remember how much air a person needed. It was probably enough for at least a little while.
The fight was impressive. Jazz could say that even after watching Danny fight so often. It was also incredibly brutal. There was no finesse, no form, and there didn't need to be. The sheer physical power of the combatants made it redundant.
She couldn't help but think that Danny could beat both of them.
The lake flared with light, visible even through the green-tinted ectoplasmic shield. When the light cleared, both the ghost and the surprisingly ghost-like man were gone.
"Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa! What was that? Where'd Banner go?" shouted Iron Man, audible through the external PA system, which meant that he really had to be shouting, because that thing sucked.
Jazz hissed through her teeth. She hadn't caused this situation, but she'd certainly been involved in sending one of the preeminent scientific minds of the century to the Ghost Zone. Not as bad as killing him, sure, but there it was.
This was a bad day. This was a bad, bad day.
