Chapter 2
The next day, Mason got ready to leave. She looked over the coordinates before leaving. Soon enough she reached the helicarrier. Mason turns to see Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers. Nat smirked.
“Perez.” Nat walked over to her.
“Romanoff.” Mason smiles softly at her friend.
Nat pulled her into a hug.
“It’s good to see you.” Nat says, softly.
“You too.” Mason says, pulling away for the hug. Mason looks over at Steve and Bruce. “Dr. Banner. I’m Mason Perez. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m a fan. I followed your work on nuclear physics years ago. Truly incredible.”
“Nice to meet you Ms. Perez. I’ve read your file. You are very impressive as well.” Bruce shakes her hand.
“Thank you.” Mason says before turning to Steve.
“It’s an honor, ma’am.” Steve held out his hand.
“The honor is all mine, Captain Rogers.” Mason shook his hand. His hand was rough but smooth. It was comforting, not just for Mason but for Steve as well.
“You were in the military?” He asked.
“Served for 7 years in the Army Special Forces.” Mason told him.
“Major, right?” He asked. Mason nodded again. “Very impressive.”
“Gentlemen. You might want to step inside in a minute. It’s going to get a little hard to breathe.” Nat says as the crew around them were securing everything.
“Is this a submarine?” Steve asked as he started walking over to the edge with Dr Banner. Mason smirked with Nat as they watched the two men react.
“Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?” Bruce said. The helicarrier slowly started to lift into the air. “No, no, this is much worse!”
Mason, Steve and Bruce then followed Natasha inside to the bridge. Once on the bridge they were welcomed by the sounds of Hill and Fury checking that they were clear.
“S.H.I.E.L.D. Emergency Protocol 193.6 in effect. We are at level, sir.” Hill told Fury.
“Good. Let’s vanish.” Fury says.
“Engage retro-reflection panels.”
“Reflection panels engaged.”
Fury turns to them.
“Gentlemen.” Fury greets. Steve handed him $10. Fury pocketed it before shaking Bruce's hand. “Doctor, thank you for coming.”
“Thanks for asking nicely. So, how long am I staying?” Bruce asks.
“Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you’re in the wind.” Fury tells him.
“Where are you with that?” Bruce asks.
“We’re sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it’s connected to a satellite, it’s eyes and ears for us.” Coulson says.
“That’s still not gonna find them in time.” Nat says.
“You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?” Bruce asks.
“How many are there?” Fury crosses his arms over his chest.
“Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I’ll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places.” Bruce says while taking off his suit jacket. “Do you have somewhere for me to work?”
“Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?”
“You’re gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys.” Nat and Bruce left the room.
“We got a hit, a 67% match. Wait, cross match, 79%.” Someone says a few hours later.
“Location?” Coulson asks.
“Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Königstrasse. He’s not exactly hiding.”
“Captain, you’re up. Perez, go with him as back up.”
Once they arrived, Loki was about to kill an elderly man. Steve jumped out of the jet and landed in front of the man with his shield covering them. Loki's blast hit him back and he fell to the ground. Mason watched from the jet.
“You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing.” Steve said. Loki looked up at him.
“The Soldier! The man out of time.” He got up.
“I’m not the one out of time.” Steve said.
“Loki, drop the weapon and stand down.” Nat told him over the speaker. Loki shot energy out of the Spector and Nat quickly dodged it. Steve and Loki started to fight.
“This guy's all over the place.” Nat says.
“Agent Romanoff, you miss me?” Nat and Mason heard over their earpieces.
The quinjet then started playing music as Tony Stark flew down and hit Loki. Loki fell against the stairs. Tony aimed all of his weapons at Loki.
“Make your move, Reindeer Games.” Tony said. Loki made his armor vanish and raised his arms in surrender. “Good move.”
“Mr. Stark.” Steve said.
“Captain.” Stark said. They got Loki on to the jet and took off back to the helicarrier. Nat was talking to Fury over comms as Mason stood with Stark and Rogers.
“I don’t like it.” Steve said to them.
“What, rock of ages, giving up so easily?” Stark asked.
“I don’t remember it being that easy.” Steve said. “This guy packs a wallop.” Steve looks over at Loki.
“Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow.” Tony says and looks at Steve. “What’s your thing? Pilates?”
“What?” Steve asked, confused.
“It’s like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things. You know, doing time as a Capsicle.” Tony said.
“Fury didn’t tell me he was calling you in.” Steve looks at him.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of things Fury doesn’t tell you.” Tony says.
All of the sudden thunder rumbled the night sky.
“Where’s this coming from?” Nat asked herself.
“What’s the matter?” Steve asked Loki. “Are you scared of a little lightning?”
“I’m not overly fond of what follows.” Loki says.
“What does that mean?” Mason asks Steve and Tony, when suddenly, something or someone landed on top of the jet making it shake a little bit. Stark quickly puts on his helmet and opens the hatch.
“What are you doing?!” Steve asks.
Thor landed inside. He hit Stark. Stark fell backwards into Mason and Steve. Thor grabs Loki by his throat and jumps out of the jet. Stark got up.
“Now there’s that guy.” Stark sighs.
“Another Asgardian?!” Nat asked.
“That guy’s a friendly?” Steve asked as he helped me up.
“Doesn’t matter.” Stark says. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseracts lost.” He walks towards the open hatch.
“Stark, we need a plan of attack!” Mason says.
“I have a plan.” He stops and looks over his shoulder. “Attack.” And with that he flies out. Steve grabs a parachute and starts putting it on.
“I’d sit this one out, Cap.” Nat says.
“I don’t see how I can.”
“These guys come from legend. They’re basically gods.”
“There’s only one God, Ma’am. And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” He grabs his shield and runs off the jet.
Mason folded her arms across her chest and looked over at Nat.
“Boys.” Mason rolled her eyes, making Nat laugh.
After a few minutes Mason and Nat saw an explosion. Mason sighed and flew off the jet and landed in the middle of the 3 of them.
“Are you boys done here?” Mason asked. Steve, Tony, and Thor slowly nodded. “Good. Stark grab Loki. Take the new guy with you.” The 2 leave. Mason looked over at Steve.
“There isn’t any space to land the jet.” Steve said.
“Need a lift?” Mason asked. He nodded, embarrassedly. “Hold on tight. I like to go fast.”
Steve grabbed her hand, and she took off towards the jet. Mason gripped his hand tightly. Steve landed with Mason flouting next to him. Once he was safely on his own feet Mason landed and let go of his hand.
“You okay, soldier?” Mason asked as she closed the hatch.
“Yeah. That was just. That felt...”
“Freeing?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, making Mason smile softly. “You feel that all the time?”
“Once in a while.” Mason tells him.
They finally got back to the helicarrier. About 16 guards escorted Loki to his cell as the rest of the team went to the bridge. Mason sat next to Steve at the round table. They watch over the cameras as Fury threatens Loki.
“Ant. Boot.” Fury said. Loki chuckles.
“It’s an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me.” Loki says.
“Built for something a lot stronger than you.”
“Oh, I’ve heard.” Loki said as he looked straight into the camera. “A mindless beast.” Nat discretely looked over at Dr Banner. “Makes play he’s still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?”
“How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can’t hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it’s fun.” Fury said. “You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”
“Ooh. It burns you to have come so close. To have the tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what?” Loki smiles. “A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is.” Fury gave him a small smirk that quickly went away.
“Well, let me know if ‘real power’ wants a magazine or something.” Fury said as he walked away. Loki looks back at the camera with a smirk and the footage goes away.
“He really grows on you, doesn’t he?” Bruce joked. Mason gave him a small smile.
“Loki’s gonna drag this out.” Steve says. “So, Thor, what’s his play?” He looks over at him.
“He has an army called the Chitauri. They’re not of Asgard nor any world known” Thor told them. “He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the tesseract.”
“An army, from outer space.” Steve looked around at everyone and stopped at Mason, who just gave him a little shrug.
“So, he’s building another portal. That’s why he needs Erik Selvig for.” Bruce said.
“Selvig?” Thor asked.
“He’s an amazing astrophysicist.” Mason told him.
“He’s a friend.” Thor looked at her.
“Loki has him under some kind of spell,” Nat said. “Along with one of ours.” She looked down.
“I want to know why Loki let us take him.” Steve started. “He’s not leading an army from here.”
“I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him.” Bruce said.
“Have care how you speak.” Thor said. “Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother.”
“He killed 80 people in 2 days.” Nat told him.
“He’s adopted.” Thor said.
“I think it’s about the mechanics. Iridium... What do they need the iridium for?” Bruce asked.
“It’s a stabilizing agent.” Tony said as he walked in with Agent Coulson. He says something to him before turning back to the others. “It means the portal won’t collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. No hard feelings, Point Break. You’ve got a mean swing.” Tony patted Thor's arm. “Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants.” Tony stood where Fury usually stands. “Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails.” Everyone stops and stares at him. “That man is playing Galaga!” Steve gave Mason a confused look.
“It’s a game that you play on computers.” Mason whispered to him. He nodded. That was adorable. Mason thought to herself.
“He thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.” Tony covered his left eye. “How does Fury even see these?” Tony asked.
“He turns.” Hill said.
“Sounds exhausting.” Tony looks around. “The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kickstart the cube.”
“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Hill asked.
“Last night.” He spoke. “They packet, Selvig’s notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one that did the reading?”
“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Steve asked.
“He would have to heat the Cube to 120-million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.” Bruce said.
“Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.” Tony said.
“Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet.” Bruce says.
“Finally, someone who speaks English.” Tony says.
“Is that what just happened?” Steve asked and looked at Mason, who again just shrugged,
“It’s good to meet you, Dr Banner.” Stark said as they shook hands. “Your work on the anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster.”
“Thanks.” Bruce said, a little uncomfortable.
“Dr Banner is only here to track the Cube.” Fury said as he walked into the room. “I was hoping you might join him.”
“I would start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.” Steve said.
“I don’t know about that, but it is powered by the Cube. And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn 2 of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.” Fury said.
“Monkeys? I do not understand.” Thor said.
“I do!” Steve said. He looked around at the others. Mason just smiled. "I understood that reference." That was really adorable.
“Shall we play, Doctor?” Tony asked Bruce.
“This way, sir.” Bruce walked out with Tony.
“Want to walk around with me?” Steve asked Mason.
“Sure.”
The pair got up and started walking out of the bridge.
“Tell me about yourself.” Steve says.
“Oh, huh. Well, I was born in Durango, Mexico. I moved to Brooklyn, New York when I was 10.”
“Do you have any siblings?” He asked.
“Only child.” She tells him.
“Me too.” He says. “In your file it says you have powers. How did you get it?”
“I was born with it.” Mason lifted her hands and showed him her white whip. “Not sure how or why I got it, but it’s something I have to live with. Everyday.”
They walked by the lab when they heard Tony shock Bruce.
“Hey!” Steve said as he walked into the room. Mason followed behind him. “Are you nuts?”
“Jury’s out.” Tony looked at the pair then back at Bruce. “You really have got a lid on it, haven’t you? What’s your secret? Mallow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?”
“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve asked.
“Funny things are.” Tony said.
“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn’t funny.” Steve said then looked at Bruce. “No offense, Doc.”
“It’s all right, I wouldn’t have come aboard if I couldn’t handle pointy things.” Bruce told them.
“You’re tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut.” Tony said.
“And you need to focus on the problem, Stark.” Mason said to him.
“Do you think I’m not? 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 the variables.” Tony said.
“You think Fury’s hiding something?” Steve asked.
“He’s a spy. Captain, he’s ‘the’ spy. His secrets have secrets.” He ate a blueberry. “It’s bugging him too, isn’t it?” Tony pointed at Bruce.
“Uhhh... I just want to finish my work here, and...” Bruce said.
“Doctor?” Steve and Mason asked at the same time.
“‘A warm light for all mankind’ Loki’s jab at Fury about the Cube.” Bruce started.
“I heard it.” Steve nodded.
“Well, I think that was meant for you.” Bruce pointed at Tony. Tony offered him some blueberries. Bruce expected. “Even if Barton didn’t tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news.”
“The Stark Tower? That big, ugly,” Steve paused as Tony gave him a look. “building in New York?”
“It’s powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?” Bruce looked over at Tony.
“That’s just to prototype.” Tony looked over at Mason and Steve. “I’m kind of the only name is clean energy right now. That’s what he’s getting at.”
“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 asked.
“I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secure files.” Tony said.
“I’m sorry. Did you say-“ Steve started.
“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge.” Tony cut him off. “In a few hours, I’ll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?”
“Yet you’re confused about why they didn’t want you around.” Steve said, ignoring the blueberries.
“An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome.” Tony said.
“I think Loki’s trying to wind us up.” Steve said.
“This man is a man who means to start a war, and if we don’t stay focused, he’ll succeed.” Mason said.
“We have orders. We should follow them.” Steve said.
“Following's not really my style.” Tony said.
“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?” Tony asks.
“Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you." Bruce says.
“Just find the Cube.” Steve leaves the room.
Mason followed him. He stopped a few steps away from the door. He turns to Mason. She gives him a look and he nod. They turned and walked the other way to find some answers. Steve broke into the storage room.
“You know, I could’ve used my powers to open it.” Mason says to him.
“Where’s the fun in that?” He smiles down at her.
Mason returned it and walked into the room first. They stopped when they saw 2 guards walking away. Steve then jumped up onto a walkway. Mason followed but instead of jumping she flew. They continued down the walkway, just looking around. They stopped at a few crates and looked inside. Steve looked mad as they saw that it was old Hydra gear. Steve looked over at Mason and then back at the gear. Steve grabbed one of the guns and the pair headed back to the lab.
“What is ‘phase 2’?” Tony asked Fury as they walked in. Steve drops the gun on the table.
“Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons.” Steve said. “Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for us.”
“Rogers, Perez, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract.” Fury walked over to us. “This does not mean that we’re making-“
“I’m sorry, Nick.” Tony cuts him off. He moves the screen to show us the plans for the weapons. “What were you lying?”
“I was wrong, Director. The world hasn’t changed a bit.” Steve says as Thor and Nat walked into the room.
“Did you know about this?” Bruce asked Nat.
“You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?” Nat asked.
“I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed.” He said.
“Loki is manipulating you-“
“And you’ve been doing what, exactly?” Bruce cut her off.
“You didn’t come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.” Nat said.
“Yes, and I’m not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy.” Bruce said. “I’d like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.”
“Because of him.” Fury pointed at Thor without looking at him.
“Me?” Thor pointed at himself.
“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.” Fury looked around at all of them.
“My people want nothing but peace with your planet.” Thor said.
“But you’re not the only people out there, are you?” Fury looked at Thor. “And you’re not the only threat. The world’s filling up with people who can’t be matched, that can’t be controlled.”
“Like you controlled the Cube?” Mason asked.
“Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies.” Thor said. “It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war.”
“A higher form?” Steve asked.
“You forced our hand. We had to come up with something.” Fury said.
“A nuclear deterrent.” Tony said. “Because that always calms everything right down.”
“Remind me again how you got your fortune, Stark.” Fury glared at Tony.
“I’m sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep-“ Steve started.
“Hold on. How is this now about me?” Tony asked.
“I’m sorry, isn’t everything?” Mason and Steve said at the same time.
“I thought humans were more evolved than this.” Thor said.
“Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?” Fury asked, turning to Thor.
We all started arguing.
“You speak of control, yet you court chaos.” Thor got everyone’s attention.
“That’s his M.O., isn’t it?” Bruce asked. We all looked over at him. “I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no, we’re a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We’r-We’re a time bomb.”
“You need to step away.” Fury said.
“Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam?” Tony asked as he placed his left hand on Steve's right shoulder.
“You know damn well why. Back off!” Steve snapped his arm off him.
“I’m starting to want you to make me.” Tony said.
“Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor.” Steve walked around him. “Take that off, what are you?”
“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” Tony answered with no hesitation.
“I know guys with none of that worth 10 of you. I’ve seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself.” Steve said. “You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”
“I think I would just cut the wire.” Tony said. Steve and Mason scoffed.
“Always a way out, Stark.” Mason says.
“You may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.” Steve said.
“A hero? Like you?” He pointed at Steve. “You’re a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle. And don’t get me started on you, Ms Mysterious.” Tony looked over at Mason.
“Put on the suit. Let’s go a few rounds.” Steve said. Thor started laughing.
“You people are so petty, and tiny.” Thor tilted his head.
“Yeah, this is a team.” Bruce said sarcastically.
“Agent Romanoff, would you escort Doctor Banner back to his-“ Fury got cut off.
“Where?” Bruce asked. “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.” Bruce cut Fury off again. We all looked at him shocked. Bruce saw their reactions and sighed. “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.” Bruce grabbed the Specter. “You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?” Bruce looked at Nat. Steve slowly got in front of Mason.
“Dr. Banner,” Bruce looked over to Steve. “put down the scepter.” Bruce looked down confused. The computer started beeping. Bruce put the specter back on the table behind him.
“Got it.” Fury said.
“Sorry, kids, you don’t get to see my party trick after all.” Bruce says as he walks over to the computer.
“You located the Tesseract?” Thor asked. Nat walked over to Bruce.
“I could get there the fastest.” Tony said. Mason rolled her eyes, knowing she could fly faster than him.
“The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it.” Thor said.
“You’re not going alone.” Steve stopped Tony from leaving.
“You’re gonna stop me?” Tony asked.
“Put on the suit, let’s find out.”
“I’m not afraid to hit an old man.”
“Put on the suit.”
“Oh, my god.” Bruce said.
All of the sudden, the middle of the room exploded sending everyone flying.