Whatever It Takes

Chapter 13 - There's Still Time

New York, 2012

You're shocked to find that the team has made it back from Germany, hardly a scratch on them, with Loki in tow. Fury calls a team meeting on the bridge, relieving you from babysitting duties. You and Banner make your way, where you see the tallest man you've ever seen; standing well over 6ft tall, blonde hair and muscles almost as large as your own head. You had spent the time with Banner to try and catch up on all the files based on the Avengers Initiative so you knew instantly who he was: Thor. He was much more fascinating to look at in person, no one should be that good looking. Nat gives you a nudge as you stop to take him in. "You're staring." She smirks.

"Shut up," you whisper at her, taking a seat next to Rodgers, admiring him in his uniform. "Looking good Cap." You wink. He gives a little blush before turning to watch the monitor. Fury was already down in the detention centre with Loki; you were all sitting around watching.

"An impressive cage," Loki smarmily looks around at the glass walls surrounding him. "Not built for me I think." He looks up at the camera. You see Banner flinch beside you. "How desperate are you that you cling to such broken creatures to help you?" As Fury and he go back and forth, you look at Thor, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Do you know what his play is here Thor?" asks Rodgers. Thor explains what he knows; you struggle to comprehend the fact that there is a space army called the Chitauri, ready to go to war for the earth.

"Well I'm guessing they're not local. Guessing he's using the tesseract to open up another portal, hence why he took Selvig." You say, looking at Banner. "He was the top astrophysicist on the Pegasus Project." Banner nods. You're distracted by a voice you did not expect to hear again.

"No hard feelings, Point Break," Stark says as he walks onto the bridge with Coulson, giving Thor a pat on the arm, making the God give him a slightly scathing look. He walks to the centre console, Fury's station. "How the hell does Fury even see these?" You walk over to stand next to him, he freezes slightly.

"He turns." You fold your arms, maintaining eye contact. It had been almost 4 years since you two had seen each other, and although you didn't want to make it awkward, you had to be resolute in showing him that you were not that same person from back then.

"Sounds exhausting." He turns to face you, staring back with the same resolve. You give a sly smirk as he eventually gives up and turns away, resting his hand on the edge of Fury's computer. As soon as he does you feel your cell vibrate, but you don't look immediately, not wanting to lose focus like Stark did. He then turns to the rest of the team, explaining how Loki would need a strong power source to set up the portal.

"And you just became an expert in thermonuclear physics overnight?" You chuckle. "Wow, didn't give you enough credit Stark." He turns and rolls his eyes at you.

"I think you should start looking at that sceptre of Loki's" pipes up Rodgers, "Reminds me a lot of a Hydra weapon." You feel a cold shiver running down your spine as he mentions Hydra and you drop your composure slightly. The only one who notices is Fury.

"I wouldn't know, but it has to be connected to the cube somehow." He states, not meeting your eye; for the first time you can see a small break in Fury's stoic face. He was lying, again. Feeling yourself getting frustrated, you look to Banner and Stark.

"Well, let's get on with it then." You head off in the direction of the lab. "Gentlemen?" you ask gesturing to you both. Stark hesitates before following Banner.

***

Once you make it to the lab, Stark and Banner get straight to work with the sceptre while you finally check your phone. It was a security alert, someone had tried to hack into the Helicarrier's database. You had set this function up when you installed the software, you would get an alert - giving you time to try and trace the hacker; it was your way of seeking out those who Fury still suspected. You hadn't told Fury this though, you were still annoyed at how little he trusted you and you wanted to prove your worth. Plus he had been holding out on you for too long now. Maybe this would help you get some more information.