Disoriented » Captain America

chapter fifteen

15 x science cupcake

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Tony Stark's workshop was the ideal location for me to mess around with Asgardian technology -- or rather, to clarify, the ideal location on Earth. I was most certainly not going to tell him any of that though; goodness knows the man's ego is big enough.

"So . . . another cube," Tony said from within the Iron Man suit. He and Steve had argued for the better part of twenty minutes over that little bit, because Tony was a little too arrogant for his own good, and Steve was determined not to back down.

I wasn't exactly surprised at who had won that argument.

"Yes, the tesseract was very fun," I mused in remembrance, stepping carefully around the metal table the cube was perched upon. It was a safe distance from Tony, even what with the suit, and I was still the only one who'd been remotely close to it since we'd found it.

He jerked his head toward me in surprise, a gesture obvious even with the suit on. "You . . .?"

"I was there," I agreed, flashing him a slight smile over one shoulder before resuming my intent study of the sphere. "I was on perimeter, trying to help with the evacuation you guys had set up," I explained, running one finger over the relative top of the cube, then around a few of the sapphire gems. "Did a pretty bang up job, if I do say so myself."

"You were there," Tony murmured, shaking his head slightly. "I should've guessed. You're . . . everywhere. Literally. Kind of disconcerting, if you ask me."

"I didn't though," I pointed out cheerfully, drawing a lazy finger over one of the stones. I thoughtfully pressed down on it, and nearly clapped in delight when the stone moved. "It's a button!" I shouted, much akin to someone saying 'eureka!' as the entire cube began to take on a dim sapphire glow.

"Whoa," Tony said then, just as distracted by our discovery as I had been. "It's . . . emitting a higher level of energy now. Kind of like the tesseract, but no gamma radiation."

"That last part's definitely a good thing," I noted, unable to help myself in scooping the cube back up. I examined it from all sides, even lifting it over my head in attempt to appease my curiosity. "I wonder if they're all buttons."

"You know, it's glowing and giving off a higher level of energy still doesn't tell us what it does," Tony pointed out. "Neither does you studying it like a little kid at Christmas."

"Hey," I huffed defensively, "it's not every day I get to mess around with Asgardian tech. Last time I was in Asgard was, oh . . . hundred or so years for me? And I didn't go there a whole lot earlier than that." My talking was more of babbling at that point; really just me reminiscing aloud. Tony's presence was something that hardly registered as I continued to speak, pushing down each of the sapphire buttons as I did so. "It's not really somewhere that welcomes otherworlders. Granted, Heimdall and I, we're close, but that was unavoidable--" I paused then, spinning to face Tony now that I had pushed on all of the buttons, and the cube was glowing as the exact shade of the stones.

"That energy reading," Stark said, moving closer to me, acting as though I hadn't been speaking earlier. "That surpasses the tesseract's levels substantially, though it's readings are far more similar to what Banner and I got when we were studying Loki's scepter--"

"The psychic dealy-whopper that's in Vision's forehead?" I clarified, arching my brows as I watched him.

I could easily envision him rolling his eyes, "The mind gem. Yeah. Thor says it's an Infinity Stone, which is why he's off planet . . . I mean, don't get me wrong, Vision being able to wield his hammer is almost impressive, but I hardly think it's a good reason to leave something called an Infinity Stone in his person--"

My brow furrowed then, eyes narrowing in on the cube, and as I was about to open my mouth to remind Tony of what that meant, the cube pulsated brightly, and knocked Tony clear across the room. The pulsation of unexpected energy even knocked me off balance, though the added affect it had was one I'd not anticipated -- something about the cube cut straight through me and gave me a piercing headache.

It was all I could do not to cry out before darkness claimed me, and as I began to go unconscious, my last thought was that this was the first time in all of my years that I'd ever been rendered unconscious without my own will.

Coupled with a friendly reminder that, much like a heart line, stories have peaks and valleys. I'd just launched myself clear into a valley at so rapid a free fall . . . I hadn't even seen the impact coming.