Making a Hero

Unfortunately for me, the medical lab was left largely untouched by the Hydra attack. So, since I had no reasonable excuses to get out of it, I lay stretched out on the narrow bed as Jess poked and prodded me. She recorded my basic info and was just placing the tourniquet on my arm when there was a gentle knock. I opened one eye to see Bruce shuffling into the small, curtained off area. He'd previously been hunched over, shaking from his ordeal as the Hulk, but now appeared to have recovered enough to actively contribute. I hadn't gotten had the opportunity to properly look at his spirit as the green monolith, but I figured there would be time for that yet.

“Hi, Jess, is it? Fury said that you wanted to talk to me... Oh.” He fell quiet when he saw me. I groaned and shuffled up a bit, he was obviously less than impressed at having to look at me. Jess's smile stretched wide.

“Oh yes, Dr Banner, I was wondering if you'd mind collaborating with me on Brooke's biology?” She asked, oozing sweetness. Bruce's eyebrows shot up and his eyes darted between Jess and myself. I pulled a face at him and his expression darkened. Jess shot me an unsure look and then pushed heroically on. “Yes, it's is most interesting, see if you can make sense of this for me.” She swiped away on her tablet and then showed him my previous blood work analysis on the screen. I saw the exact moment that the scientist in him took hold. He took the tablet from Jess, fascination glowing in his eyes.

“This doesn't make any sense.” He stated, staring at it, and then at me with a frown on his face. I shrugged, honestly bored to death by it. My physiology had been a source of curiosity for many different scientists for years. I decided to entertain myself and see if I could provoke Bruce into a confrontation. I knew full well that we were going to have to have one at some point, since I'd slept with Natasha. Now seemed as good a time as any.

“It's never made sense to any scientist on earth. I doubt that your expertise will make any difference Banner.” I muttered snidely. Jess, sensing animosity, hovered for a moment. The tension between Bruce and I becoming tangible. Then she just put her head down and pulled the tourniquet tight, making me suck in a breath of surprise which caused Bruce to smirk.

Soon enough I had a needle jabbed into my arm as they drained a portion of my blood. Bruce had elected to ignore me as a human being and treated me as a particularly interesting science experiment. It was mildly off putting as it was a perfect mimicry of how the Kree had treated me. I didn't like it one bit. He pulled the needle out and pressed a cotton ball into the crook of my elbow to stop any bleeding. He was brisk to the point of being rough.

Sullenly, holding the cotton in place, I mumbled “Fuck you, Banner.” at his retreating back. He stiffened and turned to look incredulously at me. Jess, who had been becoming more and more awkward as the tension grew, fled at this final altercation. She made some lame excuse about needing to see Fury and ducked quickly out of the room.

“Now look what you've done, you've scared off the nice doctor.” I scolded the tired looking man and he scoffed.

“Me? You're the one picking a fight. You just can't seem to keep your tongue in your head!” he snapped, outraged.

“That's what she said.” I told him smugly, loading as much meaning into the word 'she' as I could so that he'd know beyond a doubt that I was referring to Natasha. He began flushing red, and I thought I saw a tinge of green. While I was decidedly unafraid of the Hulk, I didn't think anyone would be too pleased if the building took another beating, so sighing, I said, “Look, I'm only being obnoxious because you're angry at me and I didn't do anything to deserve it.” His mouth dropped open.

“You're kidding right?” He spluttered. I shook my head.

“No, I'm not. I know that I slept with Natasha, and that you and her have some kind of thing, but it's not like I drove her to do it. That was aaaall you, nerd boy. Besides, she's a grown ass woman who can make her own fucking choices. You're just treating me like shit because you haven't got the balls to confront her about it.” I swung my feet off the bed so I was sitting up and gave him the sassiest look that I could manage. I saw the conflict in his face. He knew I was right, but didn't want to admit it.

“She was just using you to get at me. You know that right? So don't expect any romance or warm fuzzy feelings from her.” He finally said, unwilling to concede to me. I barked out a delighted laugh.

“Really? Oh my gosh!” I said with false despair, my hand over my heart, “How could I have been so foolish? Between the fact that you'd both been avoiding each other all day, the Hulk green dress that she was wearing, the excessive vodka shots and that she came on to me immediately after Tony was talking about you, oh I'd never have known!” I pretended to sob into my hands and I saw Banner roll his eyes from between my fingers. I straightened up.

“Look pal, you can't hang shit on anyone over this. You left her. She would have run away with you to wherever you wanted but you still left. She was the most vulnerable she's probably ever been for you, and you bailed. Then, you show up, all this time later and you can't even look her in the face?” Bruce was looking more and more dejected, but I didn't relent, “You can't even bring yourself to so much as apologize to her let alone explain, so of course she's gonna do something reckless. Something that makes her feel more in control of herself. So pull your head in, and stop being so goddamn moody.” I stared at him, watching the guilt in his eyes.

“I couldn't have put it better myself.” a sultry voice said and his eyes widened in alarm as Natasha walked into the room. She gave us both an evaluating look, and I have never seen anyone look so ashamed as Bruce was looking in that moment.

I cleared my throat. “So, am I done here?” I asked and Banner looked at me as though he'd forgotten I was there. Natasha smirked.

“Steve wants to have a little chat with you.” She said. I had a ominous feeling I knew what he wanted to chat about.

“This is because I left those Hydra agents kind of... Not living, isn't it? I muttered, displeased at the thought of a lecture on morals from the most righteous man in the world. Widow cocked her head and smiled. “Oh, it might be.”

“Jesus. Ok then.” I hoped down and looked at Bruce, “Good luck.” I told him sweetly, then I dragged myself out of the room with a grimace, leaving them alone to talk out their problems.

***

“Look Steve,” I explained patiently while he stood clenching his fists in frustration, “I had years of fighting with the Kree and Hydra. Years of being taught to kill quick and move on. Spending half a year beating the crap out of each other on some mats isn't going to scrub out that kind of conditioning.” I was rubbing my temples. We'd been going around in circles with this argument for forty five minutes now. I was well and truly over it.

“You have to at least try some restraint! Don't kill unless you have to!” Steve said, agitated. I groaned.

“Are you shitting me? They had guns Steve, with the bullets, that put the holes in you? You know, they puncture internal organs, shatter bones and make you bleed out and shit? This ringing any bells? They would've killed me without a second thought, and I am trying, thank you very much, I let one guy run away didn't I?” I was getting so irritated with the whole situation. He tutted very loudly and looked skyward before starting on me again.

“You know damn well that they can't kill you, so you have to be better than them! Incapacitate them and let the justice system handle it!” He looked so exasperated that I didn't bite back with what I really thought about his precious justice system. That tended to be a bit of a trigger topic with Steve. Same as voting and taxes. Unless you wanted to hear a patriotic rant on doing the right thing for your country, you didn't mention these things within his earshot.

“Look, what do you want me to say? I'm very sorry, it'll never happen again?” I sighed, “I can't promise that Steve. When there's a fight, I just do what I do. I don't even think about it.”

“Well you need to start thinking about it.” He said shortly and I rolled my eyes. I was so done with this conversation that I was going to tell him what he wanted to hear, also neglecting to mention the fact that when he throws that fucken shield of his around, anybody it hits generally ends up pretty damn well dead.

“Alright, fine! I'll try, ok? I'll try to be the wholesome and good hero you want me to be. That's all I can do.” I took a deep breath and tried to relax my shoulders. I didn't like arguing with Steve, it made me feel like crap. Equal measures of guilt, shame and self loathing welling up inside me. I hated knowing that I'd disappointed him. He shoulder bumped me, letting the subject drop.

“You are a good hero.” He said, sincerity ringing clear in his tone. I smiled.

“You keep on believing that Captain. As long as one of us does, I'll probably be ok.”

***

The Hydra attack had damaged some of the equipment that was being used to track the Tesseract, much to our dismay. Though Fury had replacement parts being flown directly in, and the computer had luckily already saved much of the data, we were still going to be delayed by several hours. The nano trackers that Tony had planted had blinked out shortly after being activated. I suspected Amora and her magic was the cause. It was a great source of irritation to most of us, however it provided me with a window of opportunity. Under the guise of taking my new suit for a test drive, I decided that I was going to go and see Loki. I told myself that it was because I was angry he hadn't somehow warned me of the attack, and that I wanted information. But truthfully, I think I just wanted to see him, and taking the suit out for a trial run was the perfect excuse.

I'd pulled it on earlier, and tried some experimental Shifts. They were effortless. Despite the suit containing unfamiliar molecules, I didn't have to think about it to take it with the Shift. I suspected that was largely due to a combination of the mostly Vibranium make up of the suit, and how tight it fit me. It looked like it was painted on. The fabric stretched and struck to every inch of me, from my throat to my feet. It was sleeveless with extra reinforcement on the soles of the attached booties, across my breasts and in my crotch area. I was most thankful for that last one, I wasn't too keen on anybody being able to count my pubic hairs through the thin fabric. Tony had, apparently, thought of everything.

Taking the form of a bird, I took to the sky, my wings leading me unerringly in the direction of the part of my soul that Loki had. I didn't feel the new suit at all, but the extra item that I was carrying in my Shift still provided some minor discomfort. I didn't really need it, but the thought of Loki's face when I showed him made me loath to leave it behind. I soon neared what looked to be a large apartment building and I circled until I pinpointed Loki's location. I flew down perched on a fire escape, retaining the bird form upon hearing voices wafting out of the open window.

“I don't know where Strucker is, Amora. You shall have to find him on your own.” I heard Loki say, sounding bored.

“But Loki, surely one as clever as yourself would have devised a way to keep track of him. You must have been doing something with all that time you spend out of the bed these past couple of nights.” Amora purred, and I wondered if I'd misheard her. I hopped closer to the window so that I could peer in.

She was clutching the front of Loki's jacket, leaning into him and looking up beseechingly. Loki held her waist lightly in and looked indulgently down at her. I felt a little stab of jealousy that I immediately dismissed. Of course he would want Amora. She was his closest link to home. And I wasn't that into him.

“No my dear that's not the case. I have no way of knowing where he is, I am as clueless as you.” He put his face so close that their noses were touching. I was absolutely disgusted. “You shall have to seduce one of his higher up lackeys with your beauty and charm. I'm sure they will fall over themselves to tell you what you want to know.” Amora smiled. I wanted to smack her. If she had any sense at all, she'd have used this kind of behavior to woo Thor and get him on her side, instead of rolling up to where I lived, with a bunch of stupid goons, and demanding that he leave with her and live happily ever after.

“Oh but Loki, none are as appealing to me as you.” She murmured, her voice husky. I made the snap decision that if I ever got the chance to end this bitch, she was as good as dead. Clearly she was a master manipulator. She kissed him and he wrapped her in his arms. I seethed, feathers fluffing out in outrage. I didn't even contemplate how ridiculous I must look as the angriest sparrow in the world, I just saw red. Right up until he pulled back with a small small and a nasty glint in his eye.

“Ah, but we both know that even I, am not as appealing to you as my dear brother is.” His smooth words were like a bucket of water to her and she stepped back suddenly, throwing his arms off her. Her eyes watchful as the Trickster god shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled coldly. I hopped a little closer, ending up on the ledge of the window. I didn't want to admit that I was more invested in this argument than I had any right to be.

He continued, his voice light, his posture casual. “Yes Amora, I know. It wasn't all that hard to surmise why you've been off starting a fight. Not that I haven't enjoyed our, ah, time together, but it's clear that you would use me, and all of Hydra to get Thor between your legs.” His tone turned hard and spitting, “You'll never secure the Thunderer's affections. Your actions are so pitifully desperate and obvious that even Skurge would turn away from you.”

She stepped forward and slapped him with a resounding crack, “You dare!” She spat, obviously unable to think of a suitable rebuttal. Her face was flushed and fury was written all over her it. I got the sense that she was going to make him pay dearly for his remark. Then she stalked from the room, slamming the door behind her. Loki rubbed his cheek and watched her leave. He stood quietly, watching the door for a little while, then strode over and checked the lock.

“Don't you think you'd better come in?” He asked suddenly, turning to look directly at me. I hopped forward and dropped the shift, standing before him with one hand behind my back, a sheepish smile on my face. He slowly took in my skintight suit with an eyebrow raisedr. I coughed, slightly embarrassed by his open evaluation. I looked at the red mark on his cheek. Yeah, that wasn't going away any time soon.

“I have a present.” I said, and he finally looked at my face. I smirked at him, “Of course, it's probably not as potent as certain, hm, other things of Asgardian origin that you've been enjoying lately, but I hope you like it none the less.” His eyes narrowed as I flicked an amused glance at the door that Amora had just slammed, then I pulled Thor's hip flask out from behind my back. It was still half full. Loki's mouth dropped open and his eyes lit up.

“Is that-?” He asked, taking it from me and handling it as delicately as he would a baby. I didn't blame him. After all, he probably hadn't been able to get a buzz off anything here on Earth.

“Some kind of crazy strong Asgardian liquor? Oh yeah. Thor got amazingly shitfaced last night and had to be relieved of it.” I crossed the living room, feeling his eyes on my back as I walked past. It made me a bit unsure. I was just me, I hadn't shifted into some beauty queen with amazing assets. Just averaged bodied me with nothing worth ogling, especially in comparison to Amora, who had legs up to her cleavage and cleavage up to her chin.

With a flustered smile I said, “There's some videos of him on Youtube if you want to watch them. Just search for 'God of thunder and table top dancing.' It's gone viral.” I plopped down onto his couch, crossed my legs and slid my soul out enough to watch his spirit. I might be fairly friendly with Loki, but he is the god of lies. Best to keep an eye on these things. I relaxed when I saw that he was watching me with a bemused expression and genuine warmth in his soul.

“You are a constant source of surprises.” He told me and I grinned.

“I know. So, enjoying your Enchantress?” I asked him archly and he sighed.

“Not nearly as much as I was. Though I hear you had an eventful morning.” He said, hiding Thor's hip flask in a cupboard. Then he turned to me and grinned, “Amora was positively livid, and Skurge was quite shaken up. He came in here, bleeding and swearing about a naked woman nearly killing him, finally losing his temper with Amora for her fickle behavior and recklessness. It was quite an exchange.” He gave me an expectant look when I snorted.

“Um yeah, We were was rather caught by surprise. Thanks for the warning, by the way.” I said, shooting him a dirty look. He shrugged seemingly unapologetic, but his soul bridled with resentment and ire.

“I didn't know. When I woke this morning, Amora was gone, and Strucker is nowhere to be found. I know not where he went. I knew nothing about the attack until The Enchantress returned, bloodied and furious. I must say, you and your friends certainly did an astonishing job at taking out her force. To see Skurge so rattled was especially entertaining.” He seated himself next to me on the couch, forehead furrowed at my abrupt bark of laughter.

“He's just not used to that particular fighting style is all.” I chuckled and Loki raised a questioning eyebrow. “I'm the naked woman who stabbed him.” I grinned and both of his eyebrows raised, he dropped his gaze and stared at my body as though he expected my suit to melt away. I swallowed thickly and continued, “I got distracted and Shifted out of my clothes. Spent most of the fight naked.”

“Well, that's certainly an interesting battle tactic.” He told me me smirking, eyes still roaming my body interestingly. I shrugged, feigning a nonchalance that I did not feel. I was a little put out that he was so obviously eyeing me up when we both knew damn well that he'd been spending quality time with Amora.

“It wasn't as awkward as I thought it'd be, Thor didn't even bat an eyelid, just threw his hammer at Amora and kept fighting on.” I said, not even feeling remotely bad at revealing that Thor had seen me nude. I wanted to see how Loki would react.

“Thor saw you naked?” He blurted out, seemingly unwillingly. I saw jealously rippling from him and while a part of me was absolutely delighted, another part of me remembered, perhaps too late, that Loki wasn't adverse to killing bunches of people and it wouldn't do to go putting him in a jealous rage.

“Well, yes but it was in the heat of battle. You've seen me naked too you know.” I pointed out. In fact, he'd not only seen me naked, he'd manhandled me a bit, and rubbed on me, and I'd really liked it. I felt a blush rising to my face and found myself to be shocked. I didn't even know that I still could blush after being alive for so long.

“That doesn't count. It wasn't you, you were Shifted.” Loki insisted and fixed me with an intense gaze, as though he expected me to right his perceived wrong and just take my clothes off for him. I won't say that I wasn't sorely tempted. Instead though, I fidgeted a bit. I wouldn't have guessed that it mattered to him.

“You've been sleeping with Amora.” I mentioned lamely. It wasn't even that relevant to the discussion but a part of me deep inside had insisted on bringing it up. He snorted.

“There wasn't a great deal of sleeping actually.” He corrected me with a leer. His response was just so smug and male that it got my hackles up. I leered right back at him. Luckily for me, I had some ammo to throw back in his face.

“Yeah I know how you feel. Romanov didn't let me get much sleep last night either. She was insatiable.” I said, faking a yawn that turned real about halfway through.

“I beg your pardon?” He said, sitting very still, eyes fixed on me. I gave him a little smile and lifted my shoulders coyly.

“Tony decided that yesterday was my birthday. Everyone had a few drinks and the Black Widow and I spent the night together. She's a dancer you know.” The look on my face felt positively lecherous. I shouldn't have told him. Playing with the God of Mischief like this was courting trouble. But I couldn't help it. I wanted to see his reaction. His spirit darkened, his face only briefly clouding with distaste before his mask of superiority fell back in place.

“Well, we've both fucked deceptive women. It seems that we have more in common than you would think.” He said silkily. My face flamed at the dirty word spoken with such eloquence. It was wrong to hear such coarse language on Loki's refined lips. I cleared my throat, feeling very awkward.

“So why didn't you know about the attack?” I asked him suddenly, hopefully changing the topic away from bad language. I wondered if this was how Steve felt whenever people around him dropped f-bombs. For the first time I actually felt bad for him. Loki stared at me for a stretched out moment, his eyebrow raised and the side of his mouth lifted at my blatant subject change.

Finally turning away he said, “It would seem that Amora suspects that I don't actually want anything to do with the Baron and his schemes, so she's encouraged Strucker to withhold information. At this point I am not actually sure as to what my fate may be. It's clear that neither of them trust me, and the Baron seems to be slowly coming to the realization that he made a mistake by forcing me to align myself with him.” He seemed fine, but his soul was clouded with anxiety.

“You need an out.” I stated, worried about how I was going to provide him with one. He nodded his agreement with me.

“I don't know how to go about it with the threat of Thor discovering my existence looming over my head.” He admitted, “And I'm not leaving without the artifacts that Amora stole. Strucker is dangerous enough, but with the Tesseract, a whole host of new, terrible possibilities are open to him.”

“That reminds me, they've got the Norn Stones too.” I told him and he turned to stare at me, the outright terror radiating off him causing me to flinch and lean back.

“What?” He hissed bolting upright and beginning to pace.

I sat up straighter, “Thor told us, the Norn Stones were pinched with the other things. The Baron is planning on bringing a bunch of creatures from the Nine Realms here and controlling them. He wants to use them as his very own fighting force.” Loki turned sharply and stood, looming above me.

“The portal I created when I brought the Chitauri here? The Norn stones will act as the device that was created to harness the Tesseract's power. Only their power is much greater, instead of one portal above your precious city, they will be everywhere. And what comes through them will be much, much worse than the Chitauri. Thanos has set his mark on Earth, he once sent me through the Tesseract, now he will come himself to exterminate Midgard.” He said, anxiety spiking his soul and his breathing ragged. I held up a finger.

“Do you mean Thanos, as in the Mad Titan?” I asked, hoping that he'd say no, but he shot me down.

“How do you know of Thanos?” He whispered. I sat back slouching in the chair trying to comprehend the depth of the new heap of shit that we were definitely wading in.

“I don't know much. I heard the Kree speak of him. Gossip I thought. They talked of a man who became so enamored of Lady Death that he slew his family for her. It's said that she cursed him and that he slaughters entire planets seeking her approval and admiration.” I knew that they feared him. They said that he was the most powerful being in the universe. If the Kree feared him, than everyone on Earth should be terrified.

“He will erase Midguard from the cosmos and it will seem as though humanity never existed.” Loki said, his voice a hushed whisper. The fear rolling off him was palpable. He was still standing before me and I reached up to take his hand. Instinctively offering comfort. He did not reject it. His fingers curling to hold mine.

“We're in so much trouble aren't we?” I asked softly, and he sat beside me, leaning into me.

“Oh yes. So much trouble.” We sat, staring vacantly into space, imagining the possibilities of our future when something occurred to me.

“Thanos sent you, through the Tesseract. You had the Mind Stone, but you were under its influence!” I accused and he looked shocked at my outburst, I continued, “You must have been because some of that shit you pulled with the hostile take over was just ridiculous!”

“Oh, well I wouldn't say that.” He defended, but not very heatedly. I glared at him and he looked resigned.

“I have certain skills and was able to reduce the Mind Stone's influence to mere suggestion. It was very tiring and there were occasions where I couldn't hold it off. But the very real threat of Thanos's retribution spurred me to meet his demands as well. I orchestrated the battle as much as I needed to. I wanted to lose. I loathed Midguard, and had no desire to rule it and my best chances at being safe from the reach Thanos, was to find my way back to Asgard.”

“You couldn't have just told Thor that you'd been forced to cut a deal with a lunatic for survival, and needed the refuge of your own home?” I rose an eyebrow and he rolled his eyes as though the answer should be obvious.

“And bring the wrath of the Mad Titan on my home and the people I loved? No. Far better to play the game and have him believe that I was defeated trying to achieve his purpose.”

“So why didn't you tell your brother that you were being controlled when it was all over?” I asked and sadness resonated deep within him.

“The last I was seen by him, I was falling into the abyss of space after trying to annihilate an entire realm. I don't believe that he would have taken my word on faith. Am I not the God of Lies after all?” He looked so defeated. I knew that he was being truthful, I saw his honesty and I saw his anger. Leaning forward I lay my head on his shoulder.

“Well, I believe you.” I murmured. He gave a laugh of pure relief and put his arms around me. I really hoped I hadn't just made a total fool of myself by admitting such a thing to Loki, of all people.

“We have to stop Strucker.” I said, my voice slightly muffled. Loki didn't loosen his hold to discuss it.

“We will try.” He murmured.