In The Shadows | Loki

MORE DANGEROUS THAN YOU

 I had left the cell room nearly two hours ago, letting Nat have her opportunity to interrogate him. Since I had left his cell, he hadn't said much of anything.  He hadn't even said a word when I had left, choosing to ignore me. I didn't exactly blame him though.
        If he wanted to brood, I'd let him brood.
        It's when I'm wandering past the labs that someone catches my attention. Well, someone if I was being specific. If I wanted to get really specific, it was Tony Stark noticing me walking by and waving me in. Even then I walk in pretty hesitantly.
        "Hey Shakespeare girl, I've got a question for you." I raise an eyebrow at his nickname for me, trying to figure out if he was actually serious. I think he was, and that scared me. "So, I've been hacking into SHIELD, and I've gotten past all the barriers protecting the agent files. All Jarvis is working on now is the really secure stuff, which is what I want." He barely glances up at me to see if I'm following.
        "Okay....?" I trail off, unsure.
        "And I came across your file." He says, opening it up on the screen he was working on. "There is literally just your name. Nothing else." He pauses. "Well, and a picture."
        "And?" I ask. He gives me a confused look. I don't miss the fact that Banner is listening in on all of this.
        "Aren't all members of SHIELD supposed to have a full file?"
        "I do." I say. "Just not on the computer systems. Mine's on paper, locked very far away. That's all that you're going to find in the computer system for me." He looks at me, surprised. "What? Fury and I both thought it would be a good idea for me. Obviously," I gesture to the screen, "SHIELD is too easy to hack into. It keeps me safe."
        "That makes no sense." Tony says, point blank. I raise an eyebrow. "Well, I've even got what little exists of Fury's file here. It's more than what you've got."
        "Well that should give you your answer." I reply, and it's his turn to look confused. "I'm in more danger than Fury is."
        "Yeah. Okay." He says after a moment. "Sure."
        "Do you mind?" I ask, holding out my hand. Tony gives me a strange look for half a second, then understands. He grasps my hand, and all my senses are immediately hit. His energy isn't anywhere normal either. Electricity buzzes through my skin, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I could smell.... gasoline? I could taste egg, which confused me. I saw a flash of a man, older with graying hair. He had on glasses, and his suit was dirty. He was dead, his body lying on a dirt floor in.... in a cave? I could hear yelling, screaming.
        I jerk my hand out of Tony's, startled.
        "What?" He asks, but all I can do is stare at him.
        "You were kidnapped in Afghanistan." He nods at my statement. "You were kept in a cave. With another man." Tony pales.
        "I never told anyone that." He says, taking a step back.
        "No." I murmur quietly. "I wouldn't think so." I glance towards Banner. "I hope you understand if I don't shake your hand quite yet Dr.  Banner. We're a couple hundred feet in the air."
        "No, no. It's alright." He says quickly.
        "I just don't know if I'll get your intellect, or.... a little bit too much anger." I say after a second.
        "Wait, what did you get from me?" Tony asks. I pause, searching my mind.
        "I'm not sure yet. Though, it has to pop up at some point." I flex my wrist. "As long as I didn't get  your ego, I think we'll be fine."
        "Okay, that was uncalled for."
        "So are half the things that come out of your mouth, Stark, but you don't see us complaining." I say with a small laugh. He rolls his eyes, but is distracted when something beeps. His attention is pulled back to the computer screen.
        My earpiece buzzes. "Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well." I hear Nat  reports. I frown. How had she gotten that out of him? She and I used different tactics, I knew. It was still strange.
        "I'm on my way." I hear Fury reply.
        "I'm already there." I add in. Banner gives me a curious look, but I give him a small wave. He nods, moving back to analyze the scepter. Tony, I realize, is looking at secure SHIELD files.
        "What are you doing Mr. Stark?" Fury asks angrily when he walks in.
        "Uh, kind of been wondering the same about you." Tony shoots back. I frown at that.
        "You're supposed to be locating the tesseract." Fury reminds him.
        "We are." Banner pipes up, making everyone look at him. "The model's locked, and we're sweeping for a signature now. 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 taps something on the screen before looking at Fury. "What's Phase Two?" He asks, looking at Fury, then at me.
        "Phase two?" I ask, confused.
        There's a loud clang behind us, and I turn quickly, surprised to see Steve there, looking angry. I look at what he had slammed down. A gun. "Phase Two is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." He says, glaring. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."
        "Fury....." I trail off, turning to him. "What are they-"
        "Agent Winters, you need to go back to guarding-"
        "No no, I think she should stay." Tony butts in. "If she's in enough danger that she doesn't have a file, then I think she needs as much information as she can gather." Fury has a frustrated look on his face.
        "We gathered everything related to the tesseract, that doesn't mean-"
        "I'm sorry Nick." Tony butts in, moving the screen around. "What were you lying?" I take a step closer to the plans, scanning them.
        "I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve says harshly. I turn just in time to see Nat and Thor walk into the lab.
        "Did you know about this?" Banner asks, surprising me. He was glaring at Nat, something I hadn't seen him do since he had gotten here.
        "You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Nat asks calmly.
        "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed." Bruce fires back.
        "Loki's manipulating you." Nat says, and I can see her beginning to get tense.
        "Loki's manipulating everyone. It's what he does." I intrude. "I should know."
        "And all of you have been doing what exactly?" Bruce asks, looking at both of us. I'm surprised that he included me.
        "You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Nat says.
        "And I'm not leaving just because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce says in a low voice. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
        "Because of him." Fury finally says, pointing at Thor. Thor looks both surprised and confused.
        "Me?" Thor asks.
        "Last year, earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that, not only are we not alone, we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned." Thor looks offended.
        "My people want nothing but peace with your planet." He argues, and I snort.
        "I'm sorry, but who's brother is threatening to take over earth?" I ask. Thor, for the first time, shoots me a glare.
        "You yourself said that you believed-"
        "And I do, but Thor, you have to think. Who's controlling him?" I ask. That alone causes Thor to hesitate.
        "Exactly. You aren't the only people out there. You're not the only threat. The world is filling up with people that can't be matched, they can't be controlled."
        "Like you controlled the cube?" Steve counters.
        "Your work with the tesseract is what drew Loki to it." Thor adds. "It is a signal to all the realms that earth is ready for a higher form of war."
        "A higher form?" Steve and I both ask at the same time. While Steve sounded worried, I was more frustrated than anything.
        "You forced our hand." Fury continues as if he hadn't heard us. "We had to come up with something."
        "A nuclear deterrent. 'Cause that always calms everything down." Tony speaks up, laying on the sarcasm. I shoot him a glare, but he ignores it.
        "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury says, turning to look at Tony angrily.
        "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-" Steve begins, but Tony cuts him off.
        "Wait, wait. How is this all suddenly about me?"
        "Isn't everything?" Steve counters, taking a step towards Tony. I could feel the tension growing.
        "I thought humans were more involved than this." Thor says spitefully. Fury turns on him.
        "I'm sorry, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" He asks. I take a few steps backwards, moving next to Dr. Banner.
        "Did you always give your champions such mistrust?" Thor asks Fury.
        "Are you all really that naive?" Nat speaks up, looking about as frustrated as I felt. "SHIELD monitors potential threats."
        "Closely." I mutter.
        "Captain America is on threat watch?" 
        "You're on that list?" Tony asks Steve with a humorless laugh. "Are you above or below angry bees?"
        "He's actually above angry bees." I butt in, making both men look at me. "Well..." I trail off. "It depends on how many angry bees."
        "I swear, one more crack...." Steve trails off threateningly, looking between Tony and I angrily. I shrug.
        "Threat! Threat! I feel threatened!" Stark exclaims, pointing at Steve.
        "You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor is arguing with Fury. I'm startled when Banner jumps in, making all of us stop.
        "It's his M.O., isn't it?" He asks. "I mean, what are we? A team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb." Even though Banner wouldn't have known, that sentence hit a little too close. I flinch, taking a step back. Everyone was quiet.
        "You need to step away now." Fury says in a hard voice.
        "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony butts in, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder. Steve glares at him, brushing him off.
        "You know damn well why! Back off!" He exclaims.
        "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." Stark says, getting in close to Steve's face. I knew this couldn't end well.
        "Boys...." I say cautiously. Both ignore me.
        "Big man in a suit of armor." Steve scoffs. "Take that off, and what are you?" Tony answers without missing a beat.
        "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." He lists off.
        "I know guys with none of that, worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you ever really fight for is yourself." Steve says coldly. "You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play. TO lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Tony only thinks for half a beat before replying.
        "I think I'd just cut the wire."
        "Always a way out." Steve says. "You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." I can see that hit Tony hard.
        "A hero? Like you?" Tony asks angrily. "You're a lab rat Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."
        "Put on the suit. Lets go a few rounds." Steve says, and I see how completely serious he is. Thor laughs, making all of us look at him.
        "You people are so petty. And tiny."
        "Watch it." I threaten, making him look at me in surprise.
        "Yeah. This is a team." Banner mutters.
        "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner to his-"
        "Where? You rented my room." Bruce interrupts, and I turn on my heel.
        "Your room?" I laugh coldly. He looks at me, startled. "That cell? It isn't yours, Dr. Banner. It's mine."
        "What?" Tony asks, confused.
        "Stark, you know the levels of mutants, right?" I ask, and he nods.
        "Level one is  barely a mutation. Level three is average, and level five is..... dangerous." He says in confirmation. I nod.
        "You know what happened on Alcatraz?" I ask Banner, and he nods cautiously. "That was a level five mutant. The entire island was destroyed. Hundreds of people died." He nods again. "Do you have any idea what level I am, Dr. Banner?" I ask, taking a step closer to him.
        "A four? Five?"
        "Try six." He pales. "I met the mutant that destroyed Alcatraz. I got her energy. Her mutation, as well as three other level five mutants. Thor wiped out a small town in a brawl. I could blink and wipe out a city without barely thinking about it." Everyone is staring at me. "I could kill everyone on this ship without moving a muscle. That cell, Dr. Banner, is a prototype for mine. Could it hold the Hulk? Probably. But it's glass. It's what they had on board. If I ever lose it, if I ever go off the deep end, then they need somewhere to keep me. I'm way more dangerous than you, Dr. Banner. Sorry to disappoint." It's so quiet that I could hear a pin drop. Something beeps across the lab, and Banner has to take a second to tear his eyes off me. He moves, going to a computer.
        "Ophelia-" I hold up a hand, cutting off Steve.
        "Don't. Just..... don't."
        "Oh my-" Dr Banner is cut off as an explosion rocks through the ship, and everyone is thrown back.
        It appeared that Loki was showing his hand now.