Both spies walked through the hallways of the Helicarrier quietly and swiftly, but there was a weird tension between the two. The lab was on the other side of the ship, so they did have some time to talk.
Katya tried to force back the haunting memories from all the things she did that kept showing up in her nightmares. For Natasha, the things she had done were stuffed deeper down her mind. The screams and cries of pain only coming back to the surface every now and then. But she would have to calm Katya down at least four nights a week.
It hurt her to see Katya in such a state, even though she tried to be strong for her.
Now, her green eyes fell to the left corner of her eye, seeing the far-away look on her face. ''The Pope? Do you know how long we looked for his assassin.'' She smirked, seeing the humor in the fact that the one they couldn't find for years walked right next to her.
Katya turned to look at her. Although she appreciated her attempt at lightening the mood, it didn't help. ''I'm sorry,'' she spoke softly, holding Natasha's gaze. ''About all of it. All of them.''
Natasha's eyes softened, the humor disappearing. ''I know. You don't have to apologize.''
But Katya was already shaking her head, a frown between her eyebrows as her eyes turned to the floor. ''I do. I could never apologize enough to ever be forgiven.''
Natasha reached out, giving her hand a little squeeze to make sure she heard her. ''It's not words that bring you forgiveness, Katya, it's actions.'' She looked up, sending a smile her way as a thank you. ''We may never wipe out the red, but we're trying as hard as we can. That has to count for something, right?''
The tiniest nod came from Katya, not sure if she deserved forgiveness for everything she had done in her life. But Natasha was right; the only thing they could do was this, what they did right now. Actions, trying to do good.
Loud talking suddenly reached their ears, ending the conversation. It floated through the hallways, coming from the direction of the lab. Katya forgot her own problems, stowing them away for later and concentrating on the problem at hand. And by the yelling coming through the open door, it wasn't pretty.
''I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit.'' Steve sounded really pissed, something Katya thought he wasn't often. The man seemed really nice and kind. Not someone to raise his voice easily.
Katya was one step behind Natasha when they turned the corner, into the lab. Steve and Fury stood next to a table that held a very familiar gun. When Katya had explained what the HYDRA weapons she had seen and worked with looked like and how powerful they were, SHIELD managed to copy them so they could fight their enemy evenly.
It was the logical thing to do. If you didn't keep up with your enemy, they'll walk all over you in a fight. Even if you think it's not right to develop such weapons, they left you no choice.
Banner looked really pissed, maybe even more than Steve. If that was possible. The scientist stood behind a large desk, while Stark observed from the corner, arms crossed over his chest. He was clearly satisfied with his work and what he managed to uncover.
''Did you know about this?'' Banner's eyes flashed between the two spies as they walked in, both on edge with everything going on.
''I suggested this,'' Katya spoke up first, causing all eyes to turn to her. She could feel Rogers' eyes burn into she side of her face, disappointment and anger radiating off him. Bruce wasn't much different. It didn't affect her too much. She didn't care what they thought of her, she stood by her own choices.
Banner's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. ''You what?''
Katya narrowed her eyes, not liking the tone he used with her. ''I spent eight years with the enemy, seeing their weapons evolve into something more dangerous than anything before.'' She shrugged, arms crossed over her chest. ''SHIELD had to do better, build better weapons, to stand a chance.''
Natasha watched how Banner's fists tightened around the glasses he was holding. ''You don't fight the monsters by becoming bigger monsters. That's not how it works.''
''Maybe in your world, not in mine,'' she retorted dryly.
Natasha stepped forward, putting his attention on her. Bruce looked seriously angry and stressed right now and the Hulk running around on this ship could be catastrophic. ''You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?'' It was more of a suggestion and less of a question.
Katya almost sighed, happy the attention of everyone in the room wasn't on her anymore. It wasn't that she hated the eyes on her, she just preferred to stay in the background, watching everyone from afar.
''I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed.'' It was almost a scoff, how the doctor reacted to her. He was far from Hulking out, but Katya didn't feel comfortable and she let her arms fall down, fingertips trailing over her gun. It might not kill him, but would slow him down.
''Loki's manipulating you,'' Natasha tried to reason. Calm him down.
''And you've been doing what exactly?'' Well, he had a point there. Although he was smart for noticing that he was being manipulated. Natasha was very careful with her tricks.
''You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.''
Katya raised an amused eyebrow. So that's how she got him here. Figured. She really was irresistible when she wanted to be.
''Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy.'' Banner stepped to the side, gesturing to the screen that displayed all the plans for the new weapons. ''I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.'' These words were directed at Fury, who he suspected had the most knowledge about this.
He hesitated for a split second before raising his arm and pointing towards Thor, who had come in right after Katya and Natasha. ''Because of him.''
The god was stunned and not at all happy he was being blamed for this. ''Me?''
The Director took slow steps towards Banner while talking. ''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.'' He quickly gestured to Katya at the last word, confirming her story too. She raised an eyebrow at Banner in a way that said 'see?'.
''My people want nothing but peace with your planet.'' Thor protested. True, he had defended the world against other aliens, so the Asgardians could be considered allies.
''But you're not the only people out there, are you?'' Fury questioned. ''And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled.'' SHIELD always tried to save lives, to contain criminals. But they had grown in strength and weirdness lately, so SHIELD had to grow with them, developing new ways to match them. And that involved risks, like with the Tesseract.
''Like you controlled the cube?'' Steve sarcastically threw in. She didn't know he was capable of sarcasm, but his hatred towards the object was too strong. Right when he thought he'd saved the world from it, here it was again, taunting him in another life as well.
''Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies,'' Thor added. ''It is the signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war.''
Steve raised his eyebrows, not liking the sound of that. ''A higher form?''
Fury ignored him and turned to Thor, angry now. ''You forced our hand. We had to come up with something.''
Now even Stark joined the mix, throwing in his own opinion. ''Nuclear deterrent. 'Cause that always calms everything right down.''
''Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?'' This was very unlike Fury, arguing with people and getting lost in a fight. He was usually much more collected.
These people were like monkeys in a zoo. Everyone screaming and talking over one another. This conversation wasn't relevant of having right now. What was important is that they found the cube first, they could decide what to do with it later. This was a conversation for another time.
Just when Katya thought maybe the fight would be over, Rogers started again. ''I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep in-''
Stark was obviously not pleased with the sudden accusation. ''Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?'' he said outraged. The clash they all knew would be coming.
''I'm sorry, isn't everything?'' Usually it was, but Tony meant well and randomly accusing him of something isn't nice. Not when he had done so much to change the image from his company and himself from weapons manufacturer to energy giant. Tony could relate to Katya in that way, regretting what he'd done in the past, all the people who'd gotten killed because of his weapons.
Thor scoffed, thinking the same thing as Katya and Natasha, that these people were a bunch of monkeys. ''I thought humans were more evolved than this.''
''Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?''
''Did you always give your champions such mistrust?'' The fight only got more heated, the words flying faster and faster.
Finally, Natasha spoke up from next to Katya, who was not happy with that. ''Are you boys really that naive? SHIELD monitors potential threats.''
''Nat, it's not worth it,'' Katya warns her, but she just ignores her. Katya felt irritated and angry too, but she clenched her jaw and swallowed her words. Usually this wasn't her. She could block whole conversations out if she wanted to. But this fight interested her too much.
Banner's whole face turned into pure confusion. ''Captain America is on threat watch?'' He was the last person anyone would expect to be on threat watch.
''We all are.'' Katya definitely stood on that list. Even though she had been with SHIELD for three years now, it wasn't nearly long enough to make them trust her completely. For all they know, she was a HYDRA spy living between these walls.
''You're on that list?'' Stark turned to Steve, seeing a perfect opportunity to joke with him. ''Are you above or below angry bees?''
''I swear to god, Stark. One more crack-''
''Threatening! I feel threatened!''
Katya sighed, putting her hand on her forehand and shaking it slowly in irritation. This was supposed to be a team and everyone was arguing, talking over each other. They were a bunch of children. And they were supposed to protect this Earth against an army of aliens? They couldn't even be in one room without getting annoyed.
''You speak of control, yet you court chaos.'' She could understand Thor. The god probably thought these were a bunch of weak humans fighting over nothing. Although Katya wondered if stuff on Asgard was peaceful all the time.
It turned completely quiet, Banner's the only voice in the room right now. ''It's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're -- we're a time-bomb.''
''You need to step away.'' Fury, like everyone else, was afraid he was going to turn into the Hulk, a problem they couldn't use right now.
Tony, always the jokester, put his arm around Rogers, causing his face to turn even more angry. ''Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?''
''You know damn well why! Back off!'' Steve pushed the man off roughly.
Tony didn't like that, coming up in the Captains face. The ego's these two men had was just incredible. ''Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me.''
The blond man didn't back down, only played into Tony's anger. ''Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?''
''Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.''
Katya felt Natasha make a 'that sounds about right'-face next to her. She had gone quiet again, probably sensing that this was not going to end well and her yelling along with the others was no use.
''I know guys with none of that worth ten of you,'' Rogers countered. ''Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.''
Tony's eyes visibly saddened. He always got misunderstood like this. The egotistical playboy was just a facade, he actually cared about people but they just didn't see. ''I think I would just cut the wire.''
Rogers smiled sarcastically, not surprised at the joke at all. ''Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.''
That did it for Stark, the Captain finally getting under his skin. ''A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers.'' He stepped even closer, chests almost touching now. ''Everything special about you came out of a bottle!''
Katya finally had enough. ''Hey! That's enough!'' Walking forwards, she put both hands on either men's chests and pushed them apart as far as she could. Especially Rogers was quite heavy, so it proved to be difficult. They acted like it didn't even affected them, just kept staring at each other over her head.
''Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds.'' Rogers seriously suggested a fight right now? What had gotten into him? He always tried to avoid the fight. Something must be doing this. Maybe Loki's magic could get out of the cell, or something about the staff had affected them. Nobody acted like themselves.
''I said, enough.'' Katya growled, head whipping back and forth between the two men. She was too small to block their views from each other, but her deadly stare pulled their attention to her anyway.
Thor's laugh interrupted their stare-off. ''You people are so petty and tiny.''
Her right hand suddenly lost contact with Stark's chest, the man backing up a little bit while rubbing his forehead, like he had a headache. Now that she thought about it, Katya felt weird too, like something was messing with her head.
''Yeah, this is a team-'', Banner laughed from where he still stood in front of his desk. Katya didn't see him, because he stood behind her.
''Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-'' Fury interrupted the man.
''Where? You rented my room.''
''The cell was just in case-''
''In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!'' Katya froze and turned around slowly. Natasha's eyes flashed to her for a second, knowing if anyone understood Banner, it was Katya.
Everyone stood frozen and in shock, sadness, pity and pain on their faces. The fight was forgotten now.
''I got low,'' Banner started softly, a bit of the awkward scientist returned. ''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!'' The last sentence was especially directed at the red-haired spy who stood next to him. She was the one to pick him up and convince him to come here.
''You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?'' Katya watched as he picked up Loki's spear while talking, the blue gem glowing brightly. Maybe that thing had something to do with the anger and drama in this room.
Fury and Natasha's hands slowly went to the guns on their hips, while Katya readied the knife she plucked from her belt. He was way too close to Hulking out for her liking.
''Doctor Banner,'' the Captain's calm voice spoke first, ''put down the scepter.''
Banner looked down confused, shocked to see he had picked it up without noticing. Whatever was going on here, it made Katya feel uneasy and on edge.
Precisely at that moment, the computer in the back of the lab beeped, letting them know it had finally found the cube. Everyone turned to look at it, except Katya and Natasha, who waited until the Doctor had put down the weapon and following his movements closely when walking past them. ''Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all.''
The two women shared a swift look. This had had been way too close for their liking.
''Located the Tesseract?'' Thor asked, not sure what was going on. This Earth technology was unknown to him.
''I can get there faster.''
''Look, all of us-''
''The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it.''
O god, here we go again. Just when they thought everything was calm again. Katya thought about firing her gun to the ceiling to shut them up, but Fury probably wouldn't be happy if she damaged his ceiling.
Stark turned to leave, but Rogers grabbed his arm before he could. ''You're not going alone!''
''You gonna stop me?'' Tony challenged him.
They got in each other's faces again, just like two minutes ago. ''Put on the suit, let's find out.''
''I'm not afraid to hit an old man.''
''Put on the suit.''
But Katya wasn't focused on them, Banner's face had a concerned and disturbed look on it. Whatever the computer showed him, it wasn't good. She stalked over to him, pushed him away quite roughly and stared at the screen herself.
The screen showed that the Tesseract was right outside of the ship, on a small plane nobody had noticed.
''Oh my god.'' She was just able to mutter those words before a big explosion rocked the ship and a blast came through the grates in the floor of the lab, blowing everyone backwards.