After that threatening conversation ended, the room became quiet. They were still working, just rarely talk. I sat on one of the chairs and tried to busy myself by messing with one of the few unoccupied computers.
A few minutes later, they started talking about the Tesseract again, but I zoomed them out and played a game. Abruptly, Natasha's voice popped up through the comms. "Frostbite, Loki means to unleash the hulk. Keep banner in the lab. I'm on my way."
"Roger that." I replied quietly, not wanting Bruce to hear it.
I returned to play this awesome game, Galaga. It was so entertaining.
So that's why that guy tried to play it while on broad. Can't blame him though. This is amazing. I thought and cheered silently when I beat the level.
"Sir, it is done." Jarvis's slightly robotic voice echoed throughout in the room. Which caused me to stop playing and turned my gaze to Tony.
"Good. Send it to me." He told the computer and he obeyed. He opened the secret files of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not caring about me knowing this because he knew I don't give a rat ass, but this time, it was an exception.
"Tony, I consider you as a somewhat friend to me and as a caring friend who doesn't want to get involved with this, stop what you're doing."
"It's too late. I've gone to deep. Save yourself." He said mockingly and rolled his eyes.
"Tony, I'm serious. Stop before Fury--"
"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Speaking of the devil, he's here.
"Uhhhhh, kinda been thinking the same thing about you." He turned to look at the director, who had a glare plastered on his face.
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."
"We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce informed.
"Then you'll get your cube back. No muss, no fuss. What is 'Phase 2'?" He asked, looking at the hologram screen.
"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. Uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was a little slow for me." Steve interrupted. In his hand, was some sort of weapon, which he slammed on the table.
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. That does not mean that we..." He was cut off by Tony, who revealed the plan to the rest of us. "I'm sorry, nick. What were you lying?"
"You're kidding, right, nick?" I stared at him in disbelief.
"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed one bit." He said in disappointment.
Natasha finally arrived, with Thor taking behind her. She was immediately questioned by Bruce.
"Did you know about this?"
"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha countered.
"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed." He retorted.
"Loki is manipulating you." She claimed.
"And you're doing what, exactly?"
"You didn't come because I bat my eyelashes at you."
"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." He raised his voice and anger is coming off from him again. I put my hand on his shoulder, giving it a little grip. "Calm down, Dr. No need to be angry." I told him. He sighed a little bit and said, "I know. I know." He turned to Nick and repeated his question.
The man sighed, "Because of him." He pointed to Thor, who was confused by that. "Me?"
"Last year, Earth had 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--"
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat." He interrupted. "The world's filling up with people that can't be matched, that can't be controlled."
"Like you controlled the Tesseract?" Steve butted in.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that earth is ready for a higher form of war." He stated.
"From making flying cars to weapons that kills instantaneously." I leaned back on the counter. "Now That, escalated quickly."
"Now is not the time for joking, frost." Natasha said.
"Do I look like I'm joking to you, Natasha? I'm serious," I frowned at her, getting rid of my happy façade. "And angry as hell." She looked taken back before gazing away with guilt.
"You forced our hands. We had to come up with something-"
"A nuclear deterrent. Because that always calms everything down." Tony said sarcastically.
"Remind me how you made your fortune again, Stark."
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be deep-necked..." Tony look at him with a frown, obviously confused and offended. "Hey, how is this now about me?"
Captain returned the gesture. "I'm sorry, isn't everything?"
"I thought you humans were more evolved than this." Thor said.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury retorted.
"You boys are so naive. S.H.I.E.L.D is only monitoring any possible threat." She recovered and switched onto her usual stoic expression.
But I wasn't done. I wasn't finished. She knew of this, yet she hid it. She should've had a sense of honesty and told me about it. She and Clint should've..!
I unconsciously let the temperature drop, lower and lower. When it was about to snow, I caught sight of my eyes changing color, to that disgusting red that took away my happiness. Seeing this, I forced myself to calm down and listen. I looked around the room and no one noticed. Or so I thought.
"That's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb." He laid out all of his thoughts.
"Bruce, please." I attempted to calm him, but it seems to fail.
"Why shouldn't the big guy let out some steam?" He placed his hand on Steve's shoulder.
"You know damn well why. Back off!" And slapped his hand off.
Tony, with no fear, said, "oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."
"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, and what are you?" He asked.
"Genius, Billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony replied.
"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you." He told him. "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for, is yourself. You're not the guy to make a sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
"I think I would cut the wire."
"Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." He growled, stepping closer and glared down at Tony.
"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came from a bottle." Tony sassed.
"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Captain bumped his chest.
"Enough is enough. We are a team and we cooperate like one. That means forgiving and make peace." I stepped in between them. They were still at each other's throats though.
Thor laughed abruptly. "You humans are so petty.... And tiny."
That insult was a jabbed to my heart. Oh hell no. "No disrespect, Mr. IAmSoBigAndStrong, but shut the hell up." I moved from between them and glared at the rude god, completely forgetting about what I just told them.
"Would you care to rephrase that, tiny ice user?" He challenged.
"You wanna go right now, thunder thighs?"
"Yeah. This is a team." Bruce said, out loud.
"Agent Romanoff, would you please escort Dr. Banner to his..." He trailed off. Probably because that room is occupied.
"Where? You rented my room." He said. "The cell was just in case..." Nick trailed off again.
"In case you needed to kill me. You can't. I know, I tried." He paused for a bit. "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?" He unconsciously grabbed the scepter. My anger for that arrogant god disappeared and my fear spiked, knowing that he could lose control and kill us all if No one doesn't do something about it. I looked over to Natasha, but she wasn't going front, so I moved forward to him, one small step at a time. "Put down the scepter, Bruce." I told him cautiously. Everyone, except captain and Natasha, backed away, letting me do my thing- Frankly, this is Nat's Job, but she's not, uh, used to him yet. Captain stood close to me, Nat's hand was hovering above her gun, in case something happens. He seemed to have caught his senses about what he was doing and put it back.
Then a sound alerted everyone in the room. Tony checked and said, "Got it."
Bruce took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, "Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."
"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.
"Seems close."
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it." He reminded again.
He ignored him and proceeded to leave the room. Captain moved and blocked his way. "You're not going alone."
"You're gonna stop me?"
"Put on the suit. Let's find out." He said.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony informed.
"Put on the suit." He repeated.
"Gu--"
[End of chapter 7]