Chapter 5 - the team
Chapter 5
Meeting the team
Steve and I arrived at the airstrip to board the quinjet that was going be taking us to the mobile shield base.
I turned and looked at Steve, “You ready Captain?” He nodded to me. We walked up the ramp of the jet, and i could feel Steve close behind me. He placed a hand on my low back to guide my up the ramp.
“Welcome aboard you two.” I smiled at the greeting from Coulson. He has been one of my favorite agents. He was one of the agent that took care of me when i was younger. He became a fun uncle of sorts.
“Steve, I would like you to meet Agent Phil Coulson, agent of shield.” I had to hide my smile thought because Coulson was trying very hard not to fan girl at having Captain America on board.
“Sir.” Steve said simply to him. He reached out his hand to shake Coulson’s, and Coulson eagerly reached out and returned the gesture.
“Sir, we are about forty minutes out from base.” I heard the pilot call from up front.
“Lets take our seats.” I told the two. As we sat down, Phil handed Steve a tablet which held files of the different individuals that were called in i realized.
Steve clicked on the file that read ‘Bruce Banner aka HULK’. I could hear the screams and gunfire from the attack that was showing in the video. Steve glanced over to me, “so this Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?” He asked.
Before i could answer phil spoke up, “A lot of people were actually. You were the worlds first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula. And another group that was testing out serums was one that captured Sapphire over here.” Phil added while motioning towards me.
Steve whipped his head over to me at that. I dont think he realized the reason why i had got captured. “Did they try anything on you? Test any serums?” He asked me.
I shook my head no, “no, they didnt get that far. They were just testing out my body’s ability to sustain trauma, even with my powers muted.” I got quiet, and Steve wrapped an arm around my shoulders. He placed a kiss on my forehead like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Steve returned to watching the video on the screen, still watching the hulk. “Didnt really go the way he hoped did it?”
“Not so much. Though when he isn’t being the big guy, the guy is like a Stephen Hawking.” Steve looked over at me with an eyebrow raised in confusion. I chucked at him and whispered, “It’s a super smart guy of our time.” Nodding in thanks.
I leaned back in my chair, reading over some other files that i had while Steve got up to look out the front window of the jet. I noticed Coulson walk up and was conversing with Steve quietly. I laughed to myself at them, Coulson was trying to hard to rein in the giddiness.
*Arriving on the Helicarrier*
We were waiting for the ramp to lower so we could exit the quinjet. As soon as it was down i noticed a redhead standing at the opening.
“Nat!” I yelled excitedly and charged after her. I wrapped my arms around her in greeting. “Missed you!” I whispered in her ear. “Yeah yeah, i missed you too. Now off.” I laughed at her tone. She didnt like to show emotion quite like i did often, but i know she was excited to see me too.
“Captain.” Nat nodded at him. He nodded back, “Ma’am.” Natasha turned and looked at Coulson, “They need you on the bridge. Face time.” Coulson nodded at her then waved us off.
“Meet you guys there.”
“There is quite the buzz here Captain. About you being onboard with us. Did Coulson ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?” I had to laugh while steve turned and looked at Nat, “Trading cards?”
“Oh yes, there vintage. Just like you.” I nudged him with a smirk. Steve chuckled and shook his head, “yeah yeah, im old. You still like me though!” He nudged back at her.
Steve stops walking suddenly, “Isn’t that Dr Banner?” He asked me quietly. Looking to where he nodded his head, “Yup. Sure is.” Steve started walking towards him, “Dr Banner!” Steve called out.
“Oh yeah. Hi! They told me you would be coming.” Banner stuttered out a bit. I was standing back from the two men with Nat. I spoke up, “Word is you can find the cube Dr Banner.” He turned to look at me then nervously. His eyes shifting between looking at me, Nat and Steve.
“Is that the only word on me?” He asked. Steve reached out to shake his hand, “It’s the only word I care about.” Banner shook his hand nodding in a silent thanks.
“This must be strange for you?” Banner asked, waving around him to the helicarrier. Steve chuckled back, “well this is acutally kind of familiar.”
I heard Nat mutter quietly from beside me, “copy that.” I looked at her in question. “Hey boy, we may want to step inside in a minute. It’s going to get just a little hard to breath. At least for some of us it will.”
I smirked at her, knowing she was talking about me or Steve. The ground beneath them starts to shudder and they hear a wizzing sound. Steve turns and looks towards the edge of the carrier, “Is this a submarine?”
“Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressured metal container? Who thought of that idea?” I laughed at their questions and walked up to stand between them. “Not quite boys.” Steve looked down at me then back over the edge again. Finally seeing the giant propeller blades and noticing that we were raising up in the air.
“Shall we?” I questioned, motioning towards the insides.
*In the carrier*
We walking through the doors that entered the bridge of the carrier. Nat and I hung back so we could enjoy the surprise from the gentlemen ahead of us.
Steve stopped and was just gazing around. I walked over to the big round table and just sat down waiting. I propped my feet up on the table and continued to watch Steve slowly walk around.
I laughed out loud when I saw Steve reach into his packet to pull out a ten from his wallet. Steve then came over to me and sat in the chair next to me. Fury turned around to look at us, “doctor! Thanks for coming.”
Banner nodded, “um, thanks for asking nicely. How long am I staying?” Fury answered him, “once we have the tesseract back. You are free to go.” I had a feeling that was not quite true, but I decided to keep that to myself. Instead I asked, “And where are we on that exactly?” Fury looked to Coulson for the answer to that one.
Phil stepped up, “We are sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. Anything that is connected to a satellite.”
“All that work, that’s still not going to find them in time.” Natasha added.
“What about a way to track the Gamma rays?” I asked. Banner looked at me in surprise. “What? Im smart too! Not just power.” I mumbled back. Steve chuckled from beside me. I turned and glared playfully at him.
“No, she is right. You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?” Banner turned and asked Fury. He answered back, “How many are there?” Meaning all of them.
“Alright, call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. Once I get to where I can monitor this stuff, I will rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition.”
“That way we can rule out a few places at least.” I added. Banner nodded at me then turned to Fury again, “Is there a place you have set up for me to work?”
Nat jumped up, “Lets go Doc. You are gonna love this. We have all the toys.” Banner got up to follow Nat towards the lab. I got up to follow them when Steve grabbed my hand lightly, “where you going?” He asked.
“Im going to go see if I can help Dr Banner at all with anything. I will be back in a little bit.” He nodded at me and I left him to go follow Nat and Banner.
**Half hour later**
I helped Banner set up all the spectrometers to scan for gamma rays. Hopefully that will get us somewhere soon. I was just walking out of the lab when my coms sounded, “Sapphire! You, Captain and Romanoff are up. We got a hit on Loki.” I responded back, “Copy that. Grabbing Widow and meet you at the Quinjet.”
Turned back around quickly, “Hey Nat! We got a hit on Loki. Lets go!”
We both stopped by in our rooms to grab weapons and suit up and then rushed out to meet Steve at the jet. He had on his red white and blue uniform and had his shield on his back.
“Well hello Captain!” I smiled at him. I think he had this one when he rescued me, but I was too out of it to really appreciate how well that suit fit him. I noticed him blush a little at my comment.
“You ladies ready?” He asked. Nodding to him, “Yup! Lets get this guy.” Nat and I both jumped into the pilot seats. I was co-pilot while Nat was head pilot. And instead of sitting down behind us, Steve leaned an arm above my seat and watched though the window as we took off.
It took us about a half hour of flight time to get to Loki’s location. “Captain, eyes on Loki. Might want to get down there, looks like he has his sights set on a civilian.”
I called back behind me, “Careful Cap! Drop in 10 seconds.” I turned my head to look at him briefly and saw him give me mock salute and a smile.
“Now!”
The doors opened and Steve dropped down just in time to land in front of the civilian and block the blast from the scepter. We hung back while Steve was trying to talk down Loki. Nat swung he jet around the building so that the machine gun was pointed towards Loki. She turned on the PA system, “Loki, drop the weapon and stand down.”
Loki hesitates for a moment and I could see him left the scepter and aimed at us. I quickly concentrated and formed a shield around the jet, at the same time that Nat moved the jet out of the way. “Well that was too close for comfort.”
I looked back out of the window and saw that Steve was engaged in combat with Loki and after a few flips and hits, Loki knocked Steve away from him hard and Steve stayed down for a moment. I got nervous when Loki started walking over to him with the scepter pointing at his head. “Get up Rogers!” I yelled out through the coms. At that second I saw Steve flip back and knock Loki away from him and they go back to trading punches.
“This guy is all over the place. Can you try and lock him down with your shield?”
“Not with how fast he is moving about, I wouldn’t be able to lock onto him enough for it to secure him.” I was getting ready to get up and drop down and help the captain, thinking maybe I could lock him down once I was closer but suddenly the PA system started crackling.
“Agents, you miss me?” I heard Starks voice over the system at the same time Shoot to Thrill took over the outside PA system. Rolling my eyes at the dramatic entrance I chuckled at his antics.
I saw Start blast Loki to the ground as he landed right in front of him. Steve walking over to stand next to him. I saw Loki raise his hands in the air in surrender, “Does anyone else feel like that was too easy?” I muttered softly over the coms.
**Back in the jet**
Steve was back to standing behind my seat. Stark was standing next to him, behind Nat’s seat. We were on our way back to the helicarrier.
Natasha was speaking to Fury over the headset, “Has he said anything yet?”
“No, not a word.” She responded. I added through my headset, “He is very calm considering being a prisoner.”
Fury responded, “Just get him here. We are running low on time.”
I heard Steve speak under his breath from behind me, “I don’t like it.”
“What? Rock of ages giving up so easily?” Stark asked. I nodded, “the dudes a god. And he just surrendered. I agree with captain.”
“They guy packs a wallop. It’s never that easy.”
Stark started teasing Steve, “Still, you are pretty spry for a older fellow. What’s your secret? Pilates?” I rolled my eyes. “Stark shut up.” I looked at Stark and give him a look to knock it off. He just wiggled his eyesbrows at me. But didn’t continue.
“Fury didn’t tell me he was calling you in.”
“Now that you mention it, he didn’t tell either one of us either.” Nat added from the pilot seat.
“Well, there are lots of things that fury doesn’t tell you.” Tony added smugly
Suddenly the jet rumbled and rocked back and forth. Looking around and the sudden weather change. Uh oh.. I thought to myself. “Where is this coming from?” Natasha asked from beside me. “Ummm… I think I might know.” I answered lowly and turned to look back at Loki.
I heard Steve asked as well, “What’s the matter? Scared of a little lightning?” I saw Loki answer, “Im not overly fond of what follows.” Shit, that means its Thor.
Something hit the quinjet on the outside. I saw steve grab his shield, and stark put the mask back on and went to open up the ramp.
“Stark! What the fuck are you doing!” I screamed at him. I stood and conjured up a shield in front of myself and saw Thor storm in, grab Loki and leap back out of the jet.
“Who the hell is this guy?” Tony asked. “That you big idiot is Thor! Asgardian god of thunder.” Steve asked, “this guy a friendly?”
“Well he was last year when he was here before.” I shrugged. I saw Tony heading towards the back of the jet, “Stark! We need a plan of attack!” Steve shouted at him. “I have a plan. Attack!”
“Stark! Damn it!” I tried to grab him in a shield, but he was already gone. Steve starts walking towards the opening too. “Umm, Steve, I might set this one out.” Nat told him.
“Don’t see how that’s an option.” I reached out and grabbed his arm. “Steve, these guys are legends. They are considered god in other cultures.”
“Sorry Emma, pretty sure there is only one god and he doesn’t dress like that.” I sighed in exasperation. “I said other cultures Steve! Wait.. no!” I watched him leap out of the jet. I waved my arms and I am not ashamed to say I stomped my foot like a toddler. “Ugh! Damn it!”
I turned in a huff and sat back in the co-pilot seat. “Men!” I muttered and crossed my arms. “Fine. They can go fight amongst themselves.”
**Back at the helicarrier**
Once we arrived at the helicarrier, Loki was escorted our of the jet in handcuffs and we all walked bathing the group of officers walking him to his cell.
Typically I helped transport high profile prisoners and this one I was going to make sure I helped get to the cell. I passed by Steve and Tony and walked up behind the officers. Manipulating my hands I created a force field around Loki to keep him contained.
I noticed Loki tense at seeing the force field around him and he glanced behind him. I wiggled my fingers in a hello to him with a smirk and he just smirked back at me then turned back forward.
The others peeled off from the group and went to the bridge but I proceeded to follow the prisoner to make sure he didn’t try anything funny. Being the god of mischief and all.
Walking him into the giant glass cell and the officers removing the cuffs, I pressed the button to close the door. I then walked over to stand behind Fury.
“In case it’s unclear. You try to escape, or you so much as put a scratch on that glass….” Fury paused his sentence to demonstrate what would happen. The wind was a little intense so I put a barrier between Fury and I and the container to block the wind. “Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap.” He then closed the doors again and the wind stopped. Fury walked closer to the glass wall, “Ant. Meet boot.”
I saw Loki smirk at Fury, “that is quite impressive. But I don’t think it was built for me. Even your prized agent behind you there wouldn’t be able to hold the one meant for this cage.” I haven’t tried to hold back anything like the Hulk before, even I am not sure how true that statement is.
“Built for something a lot stronger than you.” Fury ignored the rest of statement.
“Oh, I’ve heard.” Loki proceed to turn his back and go sit down on the bench in the cage. Fury looked to me and nodded his head at me. Nodding back, I proceeded to follow him out of the room and back to the bridge to talk with the others.
I walked back onto the bridge right behind Fury. He must have been listening in to the conversation because he started in the conversation like he had been there the whole time. I still havent quite figured out how he does that.
“Dr Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.” Fury suggested, motioning to Stark. I walked over and took a seat next to Steve. He looked at me for a moment, “where were you?” He whispered at me. “Was helping escort Loki to the glass cell. I typically help transport high priority prisoners as it’s a little more difficult to escape a force field around you.” I chuckled. He laughed at that too.
“So where should we start?” Fury asked. Steve sat back in the chair, “Lets start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it operates an awful lot like a HYRDA weapon.”
I nodded not knowing the exact knowledge about that, just what I have read and watched footage about. “I don’t know about that, but I do know its powered by the cube.” Fury added.
“Well, I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the most important men we know into his personal flying monkeys.” I said. I was still pissed that somehow Loki was able to brainwash Clint.
Thor turned and looked at me in confusion, “Monkeys? I do not understand what you mean…” I just jumped in surprise when Steve slammed his hand down on the table, “I do! I understood…. I umm, I understood that reference.” I raised my eyebrow at him and have him a grin. He sat back and lowered his head and I noticed a blush across his face.
Tony decided that moment to speak up, clapping his hands together, “Shall we play, doctor?” I looked up and saw him motioning towards Banner.
Banner laughed and nodded, “Yeah, lets play some.” They both walked off the bridge, heading to the laboratory.