Part Two: Chapter Twenty-Six.
Time Bomb.
"This isn't happening....no. This can't be happening." I muttered, running a hand through my hair as I began to pace back and forth. How could I have let this happen? How could I have been so naive to think that Fury wouldn't do this behind my back?
"Astryd, take a deep breath and calm down." Steve instructed watching me with worry. Both of his hands gripped my face tightly, ensuring that I was looking at him in the eye and listening. Taking a deep breath, he released his grip on me and I calmed down the best I could.
"I should've known better," I murmured.
"Come on, let's go show this-" He lifts up the gun cautiously."-to Tony and the others. They aren't going to be too happy about this, either."
**
"Just who I wanted to see." I said, spotting Fury inside the lab along with Bruce and Tony through the clear glass window. Just looking at him made me boil with anger. I stormed into the room, Steve following. Steve roughly threw the gun onto the table, staring all all of them while all I could do was glare at Fury.
"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D using the cube to make weapons of mass destruction." I spat, explaining to Bruce and Tony. Out of the corner of eye, I saw Fury straighten up, his body tensing up.
“Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me.” Steve said.
“Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that-“
“Oh but it does!” I interrupted angrily, silencing Fury immediately. The look in his eye was something I've never seen before, a mixture between fear and remorse, but it wavered into a cold hard stare instead.
“I’m sorry, Nick. What were you lying?” Tony butted in, twisting the monitor screen to show Steve, Fury and I. Blueprints of phase 2, the tesseract, and how to produce masses of them were displayed on the screen.
“I was wrong, Director. The world hasn’t changed a bit.” Steve remarked.
“How could you? I trusted you with the tesseract! You promised me that you wouldn’t use if for your own selfish purpose. You brought this war upon us. Not Loki, you did!” I growled walking up to Fury and jabbing my finger at him infuriated. Steve gripped my shoulders lightly, pulling me closer to him and restraining me from losing control and letting it all out on Fury.
“I promised that it would be safe in my hands.”
“I was wrong in trusting you.” I said. “The tesseract should’ve never left my hands.”
Thor and Natasha walked into the lab, eyes scanning about the room wondering what was happening. Thor's gaze rested on me his eyes narrowed at Steve. Shrugging Steve's hands off of me, I sent him a thankful look, glad that he stopped me from doing anything I'd regret. If it weren't for him, I probably would've exploded due to my anger. I still felt like I was going to explode, so I took deep breaths, trying to keep myself composed.
“Did you know about this?” Bruce asked them.
“You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?” Natasha replied, not answering his question. As for Thor, he seemed a bit lost and confused on the situation.
Bruce sent Natasha a dubious look and then he chuckled at her. “I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed.”
“Loki is manipulating you.” Natasha informed him warily. My eyes snapped towards Natasha. I don't know if she's noticed, but Loki seems to be manipulating all of us. That's nothing new.
“And you’ve been doing what exactly?”
“You didn’t come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.” Natasha defended.
“Yes, and I’m not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I’d like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.” Bruce said.
All eyes were on Director Fury, including mine as soon as I tore my gaze off of Natasha and Bruce. Fury was quiet for a moment. The look on his face led me to conclude that this was his worst nightmare at the moment. He abruptly pointed towards both Thor and me accusingly. “Because of them.”
“Us?” Thor and I incredulously replied at the same time. He's going to put the blame on his actions on us? Thor has been no threat or harm this whole time, but of course they would label him as one. He and I are from a different world, and due to that, we will never be trusted. S.H.I.E.L.D may claim that they accept people who are different, but they only do that to keep us on check and to ensure that they won't be harmed by us. They don't care about anyone but themselves.
“I’ve never once done anything against your precious world, because I live in it and treasure it as much as you do. I’ve always been on your side! Perhaps, it’s time I should change that.” I snapped defensively.
“You will always pose a threat, regardless of being on my side or not. You explode like a time bomb, you’re unpredictable." Fury sharply replied. He then turned to face the others. "Although, you are not the main reason behind Phase 2. Years ago, Earth had visitors from another planet who came for revenge, meaning to cause great harm in the small plaza of Willowdale, Virginia."
“Do you also not recall the fact that I put a stop to them?” I interrupted.
Fury raised a finger, signaling that he’s not done yet. “Last year, Earth had yet another a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.”
“My people want nothing but peace with your planet.” Thor claimed defensively.
“But you’re not the only people out there ,are you? And you’re not the only threat. The world’s filling up with people who can’t be matched, that can’t be controlled.” Fury replied.
“Like you controlled the cube?” Steve retorted.
“Your work with the tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war.” Thor explained.
“And that is exactly why I opposed to your horrid idea!" I exclaimed. I crossed my arms against my chest, leaning on the lab table nearby. "Thank you so much for listening."
“A higher form?”
“You forced our hand. We had to come up with something.”
“A nuclear deterrent.” Tony interrupted knowingly. “Because that always calms everything right down.”
“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?” Fury inquired incredulously.
“I’m sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep.” Steve commented, stepping forward next to Fury. He was agreeing with Fury, and as much as I didn't want to, I had to say I did too. Tony Stark was once well known for his weapons, and if he hadn't stopped creating them, he would've been Fury's sidekick in all of this. But he's not.
“Wait. Hold on. How is this now about me?” Tony demanded, his eyebrows furrowing in disbelief.
“I’m sorry, isn’t everything?” Steve sneered.
“I thought humans were more evolved than this.” Thor said to Fury scowling.
“Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?”
“You treat your champions with such mistrust.” Thor replied.
“Are you all really that naïve? S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats.” Natasha said scoffing a bit at all of us. Obviously she was always well informed on everything that Fury did. Hawkeye probably was too and that explains why Loki has him under his control now. They knew about Phase Two all along...
“Yeah, I know a lot about that one.” I remarked my gaze heavily landing onto Fury.
“Captain America’s on threat watch?” Bruce wondered incredulously. Out of all of us, I honestly couldn't see why Steve would even be considered a threat. He's the last one in this room who would ever defy Fury and everyone here knew it. Which is why it made me angry that he was on their list. Someone who is as loyal to them as Steve is shouldn't be on there.
“We all are.” I answered.
“Wait, you’re on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?” Tony snorts to Steve.
“Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack…," Steve muttered, trailing off. I could tell he was trying hard to remain his cool. Just like I am at the moment. I need to get out of here before this gets worse.
“Threat! Verbal Threat! I feel threatened.” Tony exclaimed wildly as he stretched out his arms pointing them towards Steve.
"Are you serious?" I seethed towards Tony. Is he seriously doing this right now? Out of all the time in the world, he chooses now to continue on with his wisecracks. I understand that he has a humor very different from ours, but this is just getting absurd.
"Oh shut it, Smurfette."
"What did you just call me?" I demanded exasperated. Astryd, take a deep breath and calm down. Smurfette? What does that even mean? For all I know it could be something horrible.
“Show some respect.” Steve spat at Tony.
“Respect what?"
“This isn’t going to get us anywhere!” I yelled, pointing that out. All of us were angry and nothing good can ever come out of anger. Not to mention, fighting while Loki was in the same place as us isn't doing us any good. This is exactly what he wants. Oh no...
“And you are?” Fury questioned me dryly. “You are more powerful than most of us, yet you are as useless as an infant!”
“Oh really? As far as I know, you’ve made it clear that you don’t want me using my powers because you’re afraid of what I can do. Oh wait! But when it comes to your own selfish needs, you encourage me on it don’t you?” I said, drowning myself into another argument when I was the one trying to stop them just seconds ago. Oh, the irony.
“My needs are not selfish! I only meant to advance the world’s weaponry.”
“And that has brought on a lot of success, hasn’t it? Your 'Phase Two' isn’t even completed and your world is at risk all because of you.” I continued.
“You speak of control, yet you court chaos.” Thor stated, agreeing with me and making his way towards me so he would standing by my side. Fury remained silent, and for a while, he didn’t respond. He just stared at me.
“Selvig, would you like to step out please?” Fury advised his eye wide as he stared down at my hands. I followed his gaze and realized that my skin was in fact glowing in a pale blue color and the tips of my fingers began to sparks ready to lash out. “We don’t need to worry about you exploding now, do we?”
“Go.”
I glared at Fury and reluctantly headed out. As much as I wanted to stay just to show that he no longer controls me, I knew I couldn’t. I had to leave before things got worse for me. I didn’t bother glancing back, but I could feel Thor’s heavy gaze on me as I walked out. I took deep breaths and walked down the hall, deciding to go to my room. If they needed me, they’d call for me, but the question is: Would I listen to their orders?
I wanted to go see Loki, but I fought against the urge. If I was already upset, I didn’t want it to get worse and seeing Loki would do just that. It’s depressing on how much Thor, Loki, and I drifted apart. So much for always and forever…
I froze, sensing someone behind me. I heightened my hearing sense –something that Loki taught me- and heard the barely audible noise of a gun clicking off of its safety. Glancing down at my clenched hands, I let released my hold. In one swift movement, I spun around lashing out at my attacker. His familiar clear blue eyes widened, his gun slipping his grasp, and his hands clenched themselves together.
“He has a message for y-you, “he croaked, his hands gripping and pulling at his hair in pain.
“What is it?” I asked, wondering if we were talking about the same ‘he’ in this situation.
“Don’t try anything against me.”
With a small flick of my wrist, I threw more blue energy sparks his way to end his pain. He collapsed onto the floor, his eyes closing. By the looks of it, he seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
He wasn’t dead. I made sure of that, but it wouldn’t be long before he recovered from my blow and woke up. I stared down at him, taking him in and wondering if I recognized him but I didn’t, at least not personally anyways. I knew he was an agent and with those blue eyes, I instantly knew it was one of Loki’s minions. Faint footsteps alerted me and I ran back towards the lab immediately.
The lab was silent as I entered, but no one paid attention to me. Bruce was in the limelight, all of their attention focused onto him. Even Steve and Tony who were still feuding with each other put a halt to it. I opened my mouth to inform them that we were being attacked, but Bruce beat me to it.
“I got low. I didn’t see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?”
I reclined a bit, appalled by Bruce. He seemed so carefree, serene. Never would I have thought that he would ever try to pull a stunt like that on himself. Out of the corner my eyes, I saw Natasha and Fury reach for their guns, keeping their eyes on Bruce the whole time. I stared back at Bruce with pity, noticing that we shared similar qualities. We're both unpredictable and when fueled by our anger and frustration, we lash out destroying just about everything in our path.
“Dr. Banner, put down the scepter.”
Bruce's gaze trailed down to his hand and he stared at it in shock. It was clear as tap water that he was confused. He set the scepter back into place carefully. The computer near him let out a high pitched sound.
“Sorry kids, you don’t get to see my party trick after all.” Bruce said calmly as he made his way towards the computer that had beeped.
“You located the Tesseract?” Thor asked Fury indicating towards the computer.
“There’s no time for that!” I exclaimed stepping into the middle of the room to get all of their attention. “We’re under attack!”
“That is absurd. If we were indeed under attack, I would know.” Fury responded, waving everyone’s concern off. I scowled at him.
“Oh my God,” I heard Bruce mutter under his breath. My attention flickered to him. His eyebrows were knitted together as he stared at his computer. His expression fell and he glanced up at all of us with wide eyes. “She’s right.”
“Clear the room everybody! Let’s all-“
Before Fury could even finish his command, an explosion occurred, throwing all of us off guard and scattering us around the helicarrier.
A/N: So I changed a few things here & there...anyways, what did you think about Astryd's & Fury's heated arguments? It's gunna take some time to heal from that. I hope this chapter didn't bore you much, because most of it was from the movie that's why I want to change small details and stuff to make it interesting to read. Since I'm excited for the next chapter, I'm going to give you a hint on what happens in it...Coulson dies (well semi-dies, I guess)! lol, okay you guys already knew that, but I'm going to add my own twist ot that. Leave your thoughts below!
also, meanwhile I'm making an Asteve video, I made a video that focuses mainly on Thor, Loki, & Astryd. It took me a looong time, because my computer tends to crash when using movie maker >.< Anyways, their relationship is strained at the moment & it kinda has some spoilers at the end. please go watch it, it's to the side! >
I don't know when the next update will be. hopefully before monday, because that's when school starts...ugh. to anyone who also is starting school or already has I wish you the best of luck this year!
p.s this has not been proof read.