SHIELD (A Captain America Story, Book 1 of the SHIELD Series) COMPLETE

Chapter 8: The Basest Sentimentality

Frustrated and angry at herself, Ava stalked past the lab where Tony and Dr. Banner were working on Loki's scepter. Ava had heard a lot about it, but the full power of it only reached her when she walked past it. She was still twenty feet away when the scepter's energy signal reached her, manifesting itself as a buzzing at the base of her skull. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it seemed dark and malignant, making her uneasy.
Ava wanted to get away from it, but she was stopped by someone calling her into the lab, the last place she wanted to be.

"Ava," Tony called. "Can you come in here?"

Ava backtracked slightly and stood in the lab doorway, unwilling to venture closer to the scepter.

Judging by how calm Tony and Dr. Banner are, I'm assuming I'm the only one who the scepter is bothering. Typical.

"I'm glad to see you." Tony told her. "Because I thought maybe you could shed some light on this Tesseract business. Pardon the pun."

"I know just as much as you do. Probably less," Ava replied quickly, still uneasy about the scepter.

"So, you think SHIELD is hiding something?" Tony pressed.

"I have no idea," Ava said evenly. "Obviously the Tesseract was being used for something, but I'm not high enough security clearance to—"

"You really bothering with that speech right now?" Tony wondered, narrowing his eyes at her.

"What speech?" Ava asked innocently.

"No way, I don't believe it," though he didn't specify what exactly "it" was, "You're too good a liar."

"And here I always thought I wore my heart on my sleeve."

"Be serious," Tony said.

"That's rich coming from you."

"Fine. If you don't want to know what SHIELD is using you for, be my guest," Tony put his hands up, "But I for one am not sitting here and waiting for answers from Fury."

"Wait, what are you doing?" Ava demanded, coming further into the room to examine the monitor behind him, "Are you...are you trying to hack the Helicarrier?" She stared at the monitor, shocked.

"Only certain files," Tony corrected, "But, yes."

"You'll never get past the security lock. The firewalls are too advanced for even you to−"

"Already done," he interrupted her, "I'm downloading them now." Tony turned and fiddled with the monitors. Ava could feel herself getting angry, but she forced the feelings down, knowing the scepter was just magnifying them.

"Those are classified files, Tony," she said evenly, gritting her teeth slightly, "If they're leaked-"

"You really think I'd leak SHIELD files? Where's the fun in that?" Tony rolled his eyes, "No. I just want to know what Fury is doing with his 'unlimited' power source."

Ava hesitated. Tony was right, the Tesseract had so much power... And it had been used to power all of HYDRA's weapons during World War II. What was Fury doing with it?

No. This is SHIELD protocol. High-level clearance only; it's how information stays safe.
Follow orders.

"So, are you going to tattle on me to Director Fury?" Tony asked, turning back to the monitor. His tone was light, but she sensed he was only half-joking.

"No," Ava scowled, "I'm going to do what I always do around you: pretend I never heard anything and wait until you get caught." She turned around without another word and left, the buzzing at the back of her head still very much present, no matter how far away from the scepter she got. In her half-frantic attempt to get rid of the energy giving her a headache, Ava walked past a door labeled 'SECURE AREA,' which was slightly open, meaning the last person to enter or leave didn't close it properly. Either way, Ava could see from the signs of forced entry (loose hinges and a large scratch on the metal doorframe where the lock had been pulled out) that whoever they were, they weren't high enough security clearance to access the room, or they were in a hurry. Or maybe both were true... and Ava was pretty sure she knew who it was.