I was in the break room, alone with my thoughts as I took a sip of my coffee. I thought about what Loki had said. "A warm light for all mankind."
What did he mean by that?
I kept rethinking his words until I remembered what my dad said earlier. That Loki needed a strong power source to control the Tesseract. I started to make the connections and that's when it hit me.
Stark Tower.
That tower is run by pure energy; this would be strong enough to control Tesseract and to hold the portal open. But how was Loki going to escape? And if this was the case then why didn't Fury call my dad instead of Bruce to track the cube? Why did S.H.I.E.L.D. have it in the first place, and what were they doing with it?
I plan on telling my dad about my thoughts on this but before I could do that, I need to go talk to Thor.
I'm going to ask him to see if the people on Asgard have ever communicated with each other through dreams. To see if this was a common thing for them.
I wanted to know why I had that dream connection with Loki. I thought it was strange how we were able to do that even before meeting each other in real life. I think it has to mean something, but the only way I could confirm my thoughts is by speaking to Thor.
I was about to get out of my chair to go look for him but surprisingly, He walks into the break room.
Perfect timing.
"Hello, Lady Hope!" His booming voice echoed through the room as he smiled at me
"It's just Hope," I said calmly, reminding him of what I said earlier.
"Oh, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I'm just not used to the custom," Thor said with an apologetic look on his face.
"It's alright, I understand," I said before standing up to walk towards him.
"Hey Thor, can I ask you a few questions?" I asked once I stopped in front of him.
"Of course, you can ask me anything!" he said cheerfully.
Before I could ask him about my dream connection, I wanted to ask him something else. I just pray that this question wasn't too personal.
"Thor," I hesitated for a moment, but then I continued. "Do you think it's difficult, to be forced to go against your own brother?"
His smile drops as his eyebrows knit together, turning his face into complete sorrow.
"Yes, it is most difficult," Thor said in a whisper before looking down to the ground.
I could tell that he was really upset about the whole situation. I didn't know what happened between the brothers but it created a huge strain in their relationship. But despite all of that, Thor cares deeply about Loki and he just wants him back.
I do too. But in reality.
"Thor" I called
He lifted his head to give me his full attention.
"I may not know what's going on with Loki, but I can assure you that he is not pure evil. He's just not in the right mindset, I can see it."
It was true, I don't believe Loki is evil. I could tell he genuinely missed me and that he wanted to tell me what was going on, but something was holding him back from doing so.
Thor responds "You speak as if you know him."
I bit my lip, not knowing if I should correct him on his comment or not, but he deserves to know.
"That's because I do," I said softly.
Thor gave me a quizzical look, "What do you mean?"
I sighed before responding to his question. "I've met Loki before. Before the whole Tesseract situation"
"How?" he asked quickly, wondering how I came in contact with his brother.
"Through dreams"
Thor looked a bit confused but before he could question me further, I cut him off
"A few years ago, I don't know why but for some reason, I started to dream about Loki. I thought he was just a figment of my imagination until recently. He thought the same about me, which kinda surprised the both of us. We became close throughout the years and everything was going okay until just last year. He started to act differently around me before disappearing. I haven't dreamt about him since."
Thor's eyes widen as he slowly took in everything I told him. He was shocked.
"And by your reaction to this, I'm taking that you're surprised?" I asked
He nods his head, " I am. I've heard stories of this happening throughout the Nine Realms, but it's quite rare. It only happens to certain people but it's not specific to who. I never thought that Loki would be the one to go through this experience."
Wait, So if those type of dream connections are rare, then there has to be a reason for ours to exist.
"Do you know if there's a reason for those dream connections? Why is it supposed to occur?" I asked.
He shook his head, "No, I don't. It's never been confirmed."
Great, now I'm back in the dark; with no answers to my question.
Thor placed his large hand on top of my shoulder as a sign of comfort, but his touch was starting to make me uncomfortable.
"Don't worry my dear friend, I'm sure you'll someday find the answers to your question," Thor said while giving me a reassuring smile.
I thanked him as I waited for him to take his hand off me. Something in my gut was telling me that I should hate him. I didn't know why I felt like this but something in his aura was giving me a threatening vibe, but I ignored that feeling because he wasn't doing anything wrong. It was ridiculous of me to feel this way. Right?
After Thor lets go of my shoulder, my dad walks into the room.
"Hope, we need to talk. Alone" He said sternly while looking at the both of us.
I sighed, knowing where this conversation was gonna go.
"Now?' I asked shyly.
"Now," He said before grabbing my arm and dragging me out of the room. I turn my head back to Thor, giving him an apologetic look before leaving the room.
After thirty minutes of Dad scolding me for leaving the tower and making him worry about me, he tried to ask me about my reason for leaving. But I refused to tell him for specific reasons. Because of this, he ordered me to go to the lab with him so he could keep a close eye on me. While Dad and Bruce were locating the Tesseract and researching Loki's scepter, my only job there was to conjure any objects or tools that they might need. It was ridiculous.
I sat near Bruce as I listened to his conversation with my dad. They were discussing all of Selvig's notes while Dad was trying to invite him to the tower. Bruce politely declined, claiming that he broke Harlem the last time he was in New York. Dad promises him a stress-free environment before poking him with the prod. Before I could say anything, Steve cuts me off as he walks into the lab.
"Hey! Are you nuts?" Steve asked, upset because of my dad's little stunt.
"Jury's out," Dad said as he was looking surprised for not getting any reaction from Bruce. Did he actually expect Bruce to turn into the Hulk after doing that?
"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag a weed?"
"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked while looking like he wanted to slap Dad across the face.
"Funny things are." Dad pointed out.
"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny," Steve said before turning to Bruce. "No offense, Doc,"
"It's alright, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things," Bruce reassured before continuing with his work.
Steve turns back to my dad, ordering him to focus on the situation; thinking that he wasn't taking this seriously.
Dad decides to question him as he walks around the table.
"Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all of the variables."
Oh shit, dad was thinking the same thing as me. At least I'm not the only one to question Fury's motives.
"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked.
"We don't think, we know he's hiding something." I interrupted, which caused the men to turn their heads to face me. Even Bruce, who seemed interested in what I have to say. I continued.
"It's been bugging the hell out of all of us. Luckily I was able to notice after making some connections from our meeting earlier."
"Like what?" Steve asked, wanting to know what I was talking about.
I sighed before moving myself to stand in front of him; to answer his question.
"Do you remember what Loki said to Fury earlier, "a warm light for all mankind."
"Yeah, what about it?" Steve asked
"Well, I think he was referring to my dad's tower."
Steve's eyes widen at my response. "The Stark Tower? That big ugly...
"Hey!" I snapped before he could finish that sentence.
"That's my home you're talking about," I said while glaring at him.
"I'm sorry, please continue." Steve apologized while dad just smiled at me for defending his work.
I take in a deep breath before answering.
"That tower is run by pure energy thanks to my dad's Arc Reactor. I believe that's what Loki needs in order to control the Tesseract. To open the portal for his army. Loki has either found out about this from Clint or the news on T.V."
"I'm sorry but what is an Arc Reactor?" Steve asked while looking confused.
"The Arc Reactor is a self-sustaining energy source. It is used to keep power running in the tower." Bruce cuts in to answer Steve's question.
"That building will run itself for what, a year?" Bruce continued, turning to dad.
"It's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. It's what they're both getting at." Dad explained.
"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" Bruce said.
"Thank you," I said to Bruce before turning back to Steve. "See what I mean."
Before Steve could respond, my dad cuts him off as he walks around the table to stand next to me.
"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files."
Wait, did dad say...
"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide," he said with a smirk.
Steve spoke up as he steps closer to dad. "Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around."
"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome." dad commented.
"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them." Steve said as he turns his head to look at each of us.
"Following's not really my style," dad said before throwing some blueberries into his mouth
"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve asked.
"Of the people in this room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit, and, B, not of use?" Dad mockingly said to Steve
After noticing the tension between them, Bruce cuts in. Thankfully.
"Steve, tell us none of this smells a little funky to you?"
Steve takes a second to think before ordering the men to find the cube as he leaves the room.
The men continued with their research as I stood by, waiting on further instructions. After hearing their discussion about their "terrible privileges", I started to empathize with Bruce. He and I shared a common issue when it comes to our anger. That's why I headed towards him to have a little chat.
"Hey, Bruce?" I called
He turns to me. "Yes Hope."
"Listen, I want you to know that I understand where you are coming from when it comes to your ... emotions. When you get angry, it triggers the Hulk, my anger makes me lose control of my powers. More specifically this"
I lifted my hand to make a blue flame appear; showing him what part of me I had a hard time controlling.
He was amazed by what I could do. He commented on how he has never seen anything like this before in his life. He was surprised.
I explained to him how this power was connected with my emotions as well as the color differences between my flames, letting him know which one was more dangerous.
I opened up to him as I explained more. Letting him know why I considered this power to be a bad thing for everyone.
"When I was little, I almost killed my dad because of a little temper tantrum. Ever since then, I have tried to be very cautious with my powers. Because I'm afraid that I would accidentally hurt someone in the process. But I can't help how I feel most of the time" I said before making my flame disappear.
Bruce silently thanked me for sharing as he gave me a soft smile, before getting back to his work.
As I sat nearby Bruce, I thought about Loki. The raven-hair God.
My beautiful Trickster.
Aw, damn it. Why am I thinking about him this way? I should be focusing more on the Tesseract but he's constantly in my mind. Maybe it's because he's been my dream friend for almost 3 years before finding out that he was a fucking real person.
Wait, scratch that. A real God.
Ughh why does he have to be the criminal in this situation?
A few minutes later, my train of thought gets interrupted when Fury and Natasha enter the lab.
My dad notices as he starts to question them.
"Are you here to see if we have found the glowing cube? Because if so then you would have to come back later."
"Actually, we came here to talk to Hope."
I snapped my head to Fury when he said my name.
"What for?" I asked with curiosity
"Well, I would prefer if we have this conversation to be private, so if you would please follow us."
From the tone of Fury's voice, I could tell that it was important.
I stood up to follow them out of the lab but before I could go any further, dad quickly grabbed my arm as he pushed me behind him. Blocking my way as he prevented me from leaving.
"Whatever you need to say to her, you can say it in front of me"
"Tony..." Natasha tries to reason with him but gets cut off.
"She's not leaving this room until I know what's going on," Dad said firmly.
Fury sighed before speaking up.
"Earlier, I sent Romanoff to question Loki on the Tesseract's whereabouts. He refused to say anything about it and kept on insisting that he would only speak to Hope."
"What?!" dad questions angrily, knowing where this conversation was gonna go. He didn't like it one bit.
"But why does he want to speak to her?" Bruce asked as he cuts into the conversation.
"We don't know why but we need Hope to question him. If he's only willing to talk to her, then maybe we can get some information out of him." Fury responded.
"Maybe she could use that eye thing of hers to look into him. It would be very useful since she was able to figure me out when I first met her, she can do the same with Loki." Natasha pipped in.
Dad knew about that but I never told him the full extent of that power. After that conversation, he made me promise that I wouldn't ever use my "gift " on him. No matter what. After making that promise, it left me a little bit suspicious for a while. But I chose to forget about it since it wasn't important anyway.
"Nope, that's not happening. You're not sending my daughter in there." Dad said firmly.
"Stark..." Fury tries to speak but gets cut off by Bruce, who was agreeing with my dad
"Fury, she's just a kid. If you sent her in there to look into his eyes, she might end up going crazy."
"First of all, I am not a kid. I'm turning 17 in a couple of weeks." I told Bruce as I was trying to pull myself away from dad, but he kept a tight grip on me.
"But you're still my kid." dad commented without even looking at me.
"Tony, Loki will be in his cell. He won't be able to do anything to Hope while he's in there." Natasha said calmly as she tried to reason with him again.
"I. Don't. Care. She's not going in there with God of Crazy"
I glared at my dad when he said that. I understood why my dad didn't want me to be near Loki but I hated how he insulted him. After a few attempts, I finally freed myself from his grip as I spoke up.
"Dad, I understand that you want to protect me. I get that. But I can protect myself. Like what Natasha said, he won't be able to do anything to me while he's in the cell."
Even if he wasn't, I don't believe that Loki would harm me.
"But Hope..." he tries to speak but I cut him off
"Dad, do you trust me?" I asked while staring into his dark eyes. There was a small silence before he replied.
"I do."
"Then let me do this," I said, as I wanted to take this chance to talk to Loki. To be near him.
Dad takes a moment to decide before muttering "Fine, but I'll be watching you through the cameras if he tries to do anything. Okay?"
I nodded before turning to Natasha and Fury. "Lead the way."
I followed them through the hallways for a while before reaching the entrance to Loki's cell. Fury gave me a sign to enter through the door but I decided to make my entrance a little bit surprising.
So I snapped my fingers to teleport inside and when I did, I found myself standing in front of Loki's cell. Seeing him pacing back and forth as he started to look bored.
Right before he could pace again, he noticed my presence in the room which made him a little bit startled.
He quickly changes his facial expression into a smirk. Trying to hide the fact that I had startled him for being sneaky.
"You wanna talk, let's talk."