Author's Note: I don't own Avengers or its characters. I only own Riley Stark and other OCs that appear in the story.
Take on the World
Chapter 7: A Divided House
Riley walked out of the room with her head held high, but as soon as the doors closed, she let out the breath she had been holding and slumped down.
She hated to admit it, but what Loki had said before had frightened her a little.
Though at the same time she strangely felt excited on having met Thor's adopted brother.
Perhaps if Loki wasn't crazy and planning to take over the world with an alien army, he would've been her magic teacher.
But the God of Mischief told her that he wasn't interested in teaching her since she was a human with no powers.
The brunette snapped out of her thoughts when Phil walked up to her.
"Nice work, Riley."Phil praised.
Riley gave Phil a small smile and he watched her with hesitant eyes.
"You okay?"Phil asked.
Riley simply nodded her head.
"Yeah, I'm good, Uncle Phil."Riley assured with a smile."I'm going back to the lab. See you later."
Riley gives Phil a hug before walking away from him.
The brunette returned to the lab, just in time to see Tony and Bruce still working on finding the Tesserect.
"Hey, dad and Uncle Bruce."Riley greeted as she walked over to the two men."I'm back."
"Hey, Rye-Rye."Tony answered."Where have you been?"
"Nothing new."Riley replied with a shrug and gave Tony a hug."Just had a small simple chat with the Hammer Guy and then with Miss Natalie Rushman. Nothing utterly magical or dangerous mixed in the process."
Tony smirked. "I thought you stopped believing in magic."
"Well, I stopped idolising prissy pink princesses and believing in pixie dust."Riley corrected brightly as she sat on a chair."But since we now know that there are other worlds beside ours, who ever said magic is still not real?"
Bruce chuckled lightly at Riley's reply while Tony simply ruffled his daughter's hair a bit.
Before Tony could say anything, Director Fury stormed into the lab.
"What are you doing, Mr Stark?"Director Fury demanded.
Tony's eyes flickered over to the man.
"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you."Tony answered.
Riley let go of her father and instead decided to lean against him while he put a hand on her shoulder.
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."Director Fury informed.
"We are, the model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now."Bruce declared."When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile.
"And you'll get your cube back. No muss. No fuss."Tony added and became curious."What is Phase 2?"
Something slammed on the table behind them and the group turned to see Steve standing there with one of the old HYDRA weapons near him.
Riley bit her lip a little bit.
She could already tell this whole conversation was about to go downhill.
"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons."Steve admitted and glanced over at Tony."Sorry. The computer was moving a little slow for me."
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract."Director Fury responded, trying to give an explanation."This does not mean that we're-"
"I'm sorry, Nick."Tony interrupted.
Tony pulled away from Riley whose eyes immediately followed him as he walked over to one of the screens in the lab.
The billionaire pushed the screen towards the group and it showed weapons plans that S.H.I.E.L.D. attempted to build with the Tesseract.
"What were you lying?"Tony questioned.
Steve glared at Director Fury.
"I was wrong, Director."Steve stated with a hint of disappointment."The world hasn't changed a bit."
Thor and Natasha then walked inside the lab.
"Did you know about this?"Bruce asked.
"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?"Natasha assumed.
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."Bruce assured.
"Loki's manipulating you."Natasha declared.
Bruce let out a fake laugh.
"And you've been doing what exactly?"Bruce asked lightly.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."Natasha reminded with a blunt look.
"Yes and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy."Bruce complemented before gesturing to the screen that Tony showed."I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
Director Fury pointed at Thor.
"Because of him."Director Fury admitted.
Thor's face contorted in confusion.
"Me?"Thor asked.
"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet, who had a grudge mass that levelled a small town."Director Fury explained."We learned that not only are we not alone. But we are hopelessly, hilariously, out gunned."
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."Thor assured.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you?"Director Fury questioned."And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched. They can't be controlled."
"Like you controlled the cube?"Steve asked.
Thor walked over to Director Fury.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies."Thor informed."It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."
Riley's eyes widen a little at Thor's respond.
"A higher form?"Riley murmured.
"You forced our hand."Director Fury answered."We had to come up with something."
"A nuclear deterrent."Tony interrupted."Cause that always calms everything right down."
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"Director Fury questioned.
Riley glared at the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. before stepping a little in front of her father as if by doing so she could protect him.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-"Steve started.
This caused both Tony and Riley to look at Steve.
Though Tony's look was one of anger while Riley looked in disbelief at her friend's words.
"Wait, wait, hold on."Tony demanded."How is this now about me?"
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"Steve asked.
"Steve!"Riley snapped angrily.
Steve ignored the brunette and glared at Tony.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this."Thor declared.
Director Fury glanced at Thor.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"Director Fury scoffed.
Riley watched in disappointment at what was happening in he whole room that was filled with adults and one demi god all arguing.
Why were they all arguing and got agitated so quickly?
Weren't they supposed to be a team?
The brunette became a little disturbed when she notice the ice blue gem on Loki's sceptre strangely glowing brightly without a wielder.
She stopped looking at it when she notice the arguments around her slowly dying down.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos."Thor clarified.
"That's M.O., isn't it?"Bruce suggested as he backed away a bit."I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture creates chaos. We're a time bomb."
"You need to step away."Director Fury demanded.
Tony started talking again, making Riley look at him.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"Tony suggested.
Tony placed his hand onto Steve's shoulder, only to have it knocked back off.
"You know damn well why!"Steve argued angrily."Back off!"
"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."Tony assured.
"Dad, please stop."Riley muttered quietly."You're not helping."
"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour."Steve scowled."Take that off, what are you?"
At that point, Tony didn't hesitate to reply to the super soldier.
"Genius, Billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."Tony declared with a hint of pride."And an amazing father, might I add."
"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you."Steve complemented.
"Can you two please stop."Riley begged.
Tony and Steve both ignored Riley's plea and kept glaring at each other.
"I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself."Steve argued."You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play. To lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
"First of all, I think I would just cut the wire."Tony responded.
"Always a way out."Steve chuckled with a hint of sarcasm.
Tony's glare sharpened at Steve's reply.
"Second of all, don't ever say I only fight for myself."Tony scowled, his anger slowly rising more."Cause every god damn thing is I do for my little girl. My daughter."
"You know?"Steve said."You may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
"A hero? Like you?"Tony questioned."You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."
Steve turned his head to fully look at Riley, who looked anything but happy at what was happening.
"An amazing father, huh?"Steve argued, not believing the billionaire's words."You brought your daughter to a dangerous mission. If you really cared so much for her safety, you would have left her at home for her own good."
Upon hearing this, Tony became more annoyed at his late father's idol hero.
"I don't think you're in any position to talk about parenting, Cap."Tony scolded.
"Put on the suit."Steve demanded."Let's go for a few rounds."
Worried that an unwanted fight would start between her father and her friend, Riley lost her patience and went away from where she stood to go between the two men.
"Alright! That's enough both of you!"Riley snapped with a glare."Don't guys see what's going on?! This is what Loki wants all of you to do!"
"Riley, step out of the way."Steve requested calmly.
"Hey, Capsicle. Don't tell my kid what to do."Tony warned and looked at Riley."Rye-Rye, please step back."
Upon seeing the sight, Thor's laughter pulled the two men from their argument.
"You people are so pretty and tiny."Thor remarked.
"Yeah, this is a team."Bruce praised with sarcasm.
Director Fury glanced at Natasha.
"Agent Romanoff, would you please escort Dr Banner back to his-"Director Fury started.
Bruce glared at Director Fury.
"Where?"Bruce interrupted."You rented my room."
"The cell was just in case-"Director Fury started.
"In case you needed to kill me."Bruce finished.
A look of shock and disgust appeared on Riley's face.
"What?"Riley murmured softly.
"But you can't."Bruce answered, making everyone in the room to become silent."I know, I've tried."
Bruce let out a sarcastic laugh.
"I got low. I didn't see an end."Bruce admitted."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 into this freak show and put everyone here at risk."
Bruce moved his sight onto Natasha.
"You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff?"Bruce demanded in utter anger."You want to know how I stay calm?"
Riley paled upon seeing Bruce was now holding Loki's sceptre.
"Uncle Bruce."Riley spoke up, earning everyone's attention."Why are you holding the sceptre?"
Director Fury moved his hand to touch his gun while Tony slowly began to pull Riley back with his arms to place her in a protective embrace.
"Dr Banner, put down the sceptre."Steve ordered.
Bruce looked down at his left hand and became shocked to see it holding onto Loki's sceptre tightly.
He couldn't seem to figure out why it was in his hand or how he had even gotten it, but the look of fright on Riley's face was enough for him to quickly put it down.
Suddenly, one of the monitor started to beep, pulling everyone's attention towards the main computer.
"Got it."Tony remarked.
"Sorry, kids."Bruce apologised slightly while walking away."You don't get to see my party trick after all."
The tension was still thick in the room.
But the group all walked over to the screen, leaving the arguments behind them.
"You've located the Tesseract?"Thor asked.
"I could get there fastest."Tony insisted.
Thor glanced at Tony.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard."Thor warned sternly."No human is a match for it."
Tony went to go out of the lab despite the warning he just received from the God of Thunder, but got pulled back by Steve.
"You're not going alone."Steve snarled.
Tony glared at Steve and smacked his hand away, making Riley simply shook her head at the sight.
Grandfather Howard and herself were Steve's friends, but it didn't seem her father was ever going to get along with the super soldier.
"You're gonna stop me?"Tony questioned.
"Put the suit on, let's find out."Steve ordered.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."Tony replied.
"Put on the suit."Steve demanded.
"Oh my god."Bruce muttered.
Riley quickly rushed over to look at the screen that Bruce was looking at.
Just as she was about to read it, a big explosion suddenly occurred in the room.
Everyone were all thrown across the room, some of them through the windows.
The S.H.I.E.L.D agents that were in Loki's mind control have attacked the Helicarrier.