Disoriented » Captain America

chapter fourteen

14 x ain't no party like an avenger raid

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The Hydra facility was, simply put, kinda pathetic. Granted, what they had inside -- i.e. the Asgardian what's-it -- was a pretty big deal, but the defenses they had aside from that shield were less than impressive.

I don't know, maybe it was just because I was hard to impress, what with everything I could do. Truth is though, I didn't do a whole lot after that shield-thing. I watched (highly amused, might I add) as Sam, Clint, and Tony took down Hydra agents and blew things up, and were general bosses at being heroes.

I just sorta trailed behind them and casually threw stragglers into walls.

"You got a lock on the tech yet, Tony?" I asked, once we'd gotten deeper into the building.

"Yup," Tony agreed. I could hear the smile in his voice as his repulsers charged up, and the next thing I knew he'd blown a hole clear through a wall. "It's this way," he announced casually, before flying through said hole.

I rolled my eyes and followed, shouting, "Bird-boys! This way!"

Clint and Sam were quick to catch up. I followed Tony closely, every once in a while throwing up force fields to separate people he hadn't noticed, who happened to be armed. It was an okay system, actually, and there were considerably fewer shots fired.

"Why don't you just teleport us to it?" Clint asked when he caught up with me. His hand was poised over his shoulder, every ready to grab another arrow in case of emergency.

"Because I don't want to tune myself into the space-time continuum to get an accurate lock on it," I said nonchalantly. "Kind of a pain in the butt to pull out of said continuum. Much easier to just let Stark lead the way."

"Personally, I don't think Stark leading anything is ever easy," Sam commented in amusement.

"Heard that," Tony announced, before blowing another hole in a wall. This one was punctuated by a triumphant, "Aha!" before I heard a quite familiar voice shouting.

It was Steve, with a little bit of Nat, both of whom -- along with the rest of the team -- were following our trail of destruction into the facility. Not shockingly enough, Pietro was the first to reach us, his white hair mussed as his eyes darted between me, the bird-fellows, and Stark's gradually disappearing back. "You work fast," he noted, his voice betraying that he was impressed.

"Mad skill," I grinned, before teleporting myself off to Stark's location.

He almost jumped, which amused me, before he realized it was me and his face plate slid up. He regarded me with an expression lacking amusement, "Do you do this all the time?"

"Yes," I smiled, "all the time. Literally, all of time, I mean, c'mon, Stark."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved a hand dismissively before turning his attention to where said tech was. It was funky looking, cube shaped with what appeared to be diamond studs. It was platinum colored, the studs being a blazing turquoise color, and it seemed to be glowing.

Unable to help myself, I headed straight for it, ignoring Tony's sharp, "Wait!" and scooped it up with delicate hands, observing it with a critical eye.

"Wait for what?" I inquired calmly, turning it over in my hands as I studied the more intricate patterns engraved in the cube. It was an interesting design to say in the least, though not a written language. It was intriguing.

"It could . . . be volatile . . ." Tony began to say before sighing. "Why do I bother?"

"'Cause you've got a heart, Tin Man," I said, smiling at him over my shoulder, before I saw the rest of the team hurrying into the room behind them. I twisted my full body to face them then, holding the cube in one hand and waving with the other. "Glad you could join us."

"You started without us," Natasha pointed out, though she didn't seem too bothered. "That it?"

"Mhmm," I hummed, looking back to it with a critical gaze. "Definitely Asgardian."

"I was about to say that," Tony informed them.

"So you missed me, Nat?" Clint asked then, smiling somewhat as he moved over to the super-assassin.

Steve had moved over to me as Nat had answered with a, "Yeah, oddly enough," and as he approached I realized he was studying me as intently as I had studied the cube. "You're okay?" he asked, and though we both knew it was a redundant question, it was touching and made me smile.

"Great," I agreed, though when he got too close I stepped back once, holding the cube away from him. "Wouldn't get too close to this thing, though," I warned him. "I don't know what it does yet. Whether psychic or physical, or weaponized or whatever . . . probably not a good idea to approach it."

"I second that," Tony agreed.

"No one asked you, Stark," Pietro scoffed. It earned him an elbow from his twin.

Wanda gave her brother a sharp look. "Jo knows what she is talking about, as does Stark. For once," she added, the last part muttered under her breath.

Vision was the next to approach Steve and I. He regarded the cube curiously. "Do you think it could affect me?" he asked, to no one in particular.

I took it upon myself to answer. "Given though you are technically an android, you have a brain . . . I wouldn't risk it."

"If anyone will notice, I'm staying outside of the room with the questionable alien stuff," Rhodey volunteered.

"Very heroic of you," Tony retorted.

"Shut up," Rhodey shot back.

"It might be ideal for the rest of us to follow the Colonel's lead," Wanda mused then. "I do not sense good things from this cube."

I gave Steve a look then. "You heard her, Stevie."

"She's not the boss," Steve pointed out, brows arching.

"I don't know, Cap," Natasha said. "I'm going to have to agree with Wanda on this one. Remember what happened when SHIELD found Asgardian tech?"

"Natasha's a boss," I pointed out, giving Steve a look.

Tony was clearly indignant, "What about me?"

"Shut up, Tony," Rhodey muttered. "You removed yourself from the team."

"Yeah, Tony, you don't even go here," I grinned over Steve's shoulder.

"Did you just Mean Girl's quote me, cupcake? Wow, way to stoop low--"

"The point," Steve said loudly, his voice silencing everyone, "is we've got the tech. And given . . ." He gave me a reluctant look then, even as I pushed Vision away from the cube, "Jo is really the only one who can handle . . . whatever this is, she's going to take it back. The rest of us can ride in the jet. So please head there now."

"You heard the Captain, team," Natasha said. "Give him a second with his girlfriend."

"His girlfriend appreciates your help, Nat," I called after her as everyone began to leave.

"Any time," she returned.

I looked back at Steve then, watching him with raised brows and one hip cocked. "It's not safe," I said firmly.

"We've dealt with not safe before," Steve pointed out stubbornly.

"Yeah, and usually bad things happen," I said. "I'm here to prevent that."

"What do you suggest we do here, then?" Steve asked, evidently exasperated.

"You said you'd let me take it back," I began carefully. "Give me, I don't know, two hours with it, and Tony. Tell Tony he's gotta be in his suit the whole time. We'll mess with it, do brain stuff . . . figure out if it's safe, or if I need to return it to Asgard immediately. Sound okay?"

Steve sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as his gaze darted between myself and the cube. Focusing on my face, he nodded slowly. "All right. But only two hours."

I smiled. "Like I'll really need more."