PURE AND TAINTED ( wanda maximoff )

four → i'm kind of an expert

PURE AND TAINTED
CHAPTER FOUR
( i'm kind of an expert )

WHEN THE SCREEN TURNED BLACK, everyone had remained sitting in their stunned silence. Loki's words seemed to have sent shivers down everyone's spine. After the events of last night, they had managed to put him in a large glass cell with the threat of dropping him several hundred thousand feet, and placed the scepter in one of the labs to study it. Aline had changed and managed to get a quick nap in before they had all been called to the bridge. It didn't help that she was starting to get hungry... maybe some people would be kind enough to be a snack...

Leaning back in her seat, stretching her legs out before her, Aline said, "Isn't he just a ball of sunshine? I mean, he just, he really grows on you." She shook her head and chuckled at her own comment. Then she placed her feet atop the table, crossing her legs at her shins.

"Loki's gonna drag this out," Steve said and turned to Thor. Last night, after everything had happened, Aline had nearly squealed in delight when she realized that the Thor was standing so close to her. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri," Thor replied. "They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army?" Steve repeated. "From outer space?"

For a moment, Aline was tempted to ask him something, seeing as how both Loki and Thor were from outer space (a fact that still managed to bogle her) and how he'd handle knowing about her existence. What would Captain Steve Rogers do when he found out that not only aliens but the supernatural existed?

"So he's building another portal," Banner said, reaching up to remove his glasses. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor questioned, a brow raised.

"He's an astrophysicist."

Thor quickly corrected him. "He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha said.

Aline lifted her hand. "I guess I'm supposed to help with that." She looked over to Maria Hill, Fury's right hand man (or in this case, woman, but technicalities). "Since you know, Fury really seems to be milking me dry for help. Hill, you realize I'm only here to find Loki, right?"

"Yes, but you were also assigned to find the Cube, " Hill said. "You haven't done so. And Director Fury might need more help from you."

She pressed her lips together, nodding her head. "Great, 'course he does," she said sarcastically to no one in particular. "But, uh, yeah, I can help with the whole mind control thing when we find your friend and Selvig. I'm kind of an expert on that sort of thing." She tapped the side of her head; she'd been compelling people for years, centuries now, and it had come so easily for her. It shouldn't be that hard to undo it.

Steve spoke, his voice tense. "I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Banner said. He nervously fiddled with his glasses. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor said, taking a defensive step towards the doctor. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he's my brother."

The brunette girl raised her hand once more, putting it higher into the air. "Did he kill eighty people in, like, two days?" Aline deadpanned. She supposed her and Loki were similar in that aspect 一 once killing had been like sport.

Thor hesitated. "He's adopted."

"I guess that explains.. something, I wouldn't know." If she was adopted like Loki, she'd probably use that excuse for what she had done. But no, she was her mother and father's own child, with the aggressive werewolf temperament running through her veins. Perhaps Aline was just born this damaged and dangerous.

"I think it's about the mechanics," Banner interrupted. "Iridium, what do they need the iridium for?"

The door opened and Tony walked in, Agent Coulson walking alongside him. "It's a stabilizing agent," he said then turned to Coulson. "I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive." Tony then assumed his original statement. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D."

He approached Thor. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." Tony gently pat Thor on the arm. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants." Tony turned to the other agents at their desks. "Uh, raise the mizzenmast, ship the top sails!" Everyone paused and turned, looking at the man with confused looks.

Aline turned to Natasha, who had her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm sorry, is this a bit or... ?" She put her hands up in a questioning, unsure manner. "Is he like this a lot? I legit thought he acted like this for press."

Natasha let out a sigh. "Unfortunately."

The billionaire suddenly pointed to a man. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice but we did!" He looked down at the three monitors in front of him. "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns," Agent Hill said simply.

"Well, that sounds exhausting." Tony started to tap at the screens, pulling up files and pictures and all sorts of other information Aline didn't care for. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source – a high energy density, something to kick-start the Cube. "

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers; am I the only one who did the reading?"

Yes, you giant nerd, Aline thought.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.

"He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner said.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally, someone who speaks English!" Tony cheered. He held out a hand to gesture towards Banner, looking appreciatively at the doctor.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve muttered and Aline rose a brow.

"What the hell is going on right now?" Aline whispered low enough. "This just sounded like a bunch of nerdy bull."

Tony and Banner shook hands. "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Aline gave a slow, sarcastic clap, internally laughing to herself, just as Banner looked down and said, "Thanks."

Fury then walked in. "Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube, along with Miss Ashford. I was hoping you might join them."

"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve said. "It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"I don't know about that but it is powered by the Cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys? I do not understand," Thor said, confused.

"I do!" Steve said. "I understood that reference!" He looked so proud of himself.

"Okay then, weirdo," Aline whispered and Natasha threw her a smirk.

Tony turned to Banner. "Shall we play, doctor?"

A/N: yo i am officially a
high school graduate!!