Chapter 4
As the quartet entered the lab, Banner and Stark immediately branched off towards the computer systems along the far wall, while Perse and Andrew waited just inside the doorway. Soon the nondescript agent approached the pair with a duffel bag containing a change of clothes for both.
“There’s a set of sweatpants, t-shirts, socks, and shoes for both of you in there. Miss…?” “It’s just Perse,” “Miss Perse, I took the liberty of locating additional undergarments from another female agent as well.” Persephone had a wry grin at the formal address but thanked the agent warmly none-the-less as she accepted the duffel bag.
“It’s part of my job and I figured the two of you would prefer more adaptable, or at least more comfortable, clothing moving forward.”
Andrew clasped the agent’s hand in a firm handshake, “None-the-less we appreciate the kindness. My name is Andrew Chase and my partner is Perephone Jackson,” he chuckles at the aforementioned woman’s quick glare and tacks on, “though she certainly prefers Perse,”
The agent grins at the by-play between the young couple, “My name is Agent Phil Coulson and I will be your primary point of contact for anything you need while you are aboard the helicarrier and any future interactions you may have with SHIELD.” The agent backed out of the lab pace with a glance towards Stark and Banner just as the former chose to shock the latter.
Steve brushed past the agent to enter the room, only to immediately admonish Stark, “Hey! Are you nuts?”
Stark ignored the Captain and kept his focus on Banner, “You really have got a lid on it, haven’t you? What’s your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?”
The Captain turned his head towards the young couple as the dark haired one, Perse (? or at least he thinks thats her name) snickers and offers an unhelpful, “I know which one I would prefer.” She’s silenced with an elbow to the ribs, her partner seemingly unworried by her still fresh injury.
Before the Captain has a chance to continue verbally attacking the pair of scientists, Persephone removes her sandals and slips on the jogger-type grey sweatpants under her dress, followed by the socks and shoes. “Do you guys want to go somewhere more private…” Steve trails off as Persephone simply and uncaringly turns away from the occupants of the room to strip out of her dress before donning the undergarments and black t-shirt held out by her partner. Despite his own embarrassment for not having turned away, Steve was distracted by the silvery white lines of faint scars along the woman’s torso, peeking out from underneath the recent bandaging and only now visible under the bright fluorescent lights of the lab space. Her partner quickly follows her lead and turns away before stripping down to his boxer and putting on his own borrowed clothing, his own collection of scars briefly visible, including a rather large and viscous scar right over his abdomen that almost looks like an honest to god stab wound.
Steve returns his attention to Stark, “You need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark.” He forces himself not to roll his eyes at Stark’s paranoia-filled response, “You think Fury’s hiding something?”
“That would only make sense. Why wouldn’t the leader of an underground intelligence agency keep secrets?” Andrew interjects before Dr. Stark could continue needling the man out of time. “When Natasha was interrogating Loki, he mentioned something about a warm light for all mankind, that’s obviously mentioning Stark’s arc reactor work.”
Banner nods at the young man, “So, why didn’t SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?”
Stark turns to a nearby monitor, “I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD’s secure files.”
The Captain is cut off from responding as Perse interjects, “Good plan. Meanwhile, I’ll leave the nerdy stuff to the three of you,” pointing to Andrew, Banner, and Stark in quick succession, “while I go have a conversation with a ‘god’.” She plants a light kiss on Andrew’s cheek before cheerfully exiting the room, intent on finding Loki.
“Miss Jackson-” his arm is grabbed firmly by Andrew Chase and he halts in order to avoid hurting the younger man.
“It’s best if you just let her do what she wants, you wouldn’t be able to stop her regardless.” He releases the Captain’s arm before returning the computer monitors displaying both the Tesseract tracking programs and the decryption program.
Steve huffs at the absurdity of being admonished by the civilian before stalking off to investigate the rest of the helicarrier, intent on proving Stark wrong.
——
Perse slips into the room containing Loki’s cell, having dodged numerous SHIELD agents on her trip from the lab. She takes a moment to simply observe the cell and Loki’s body language, he’s surprisingly relaxed and seems unbothered by the fact that his current abode could plummet several miles by a simple command on the console to her right. Humming lightly she observes Loki as her observes her in return, his head had snapped in her direction the second she walked through the doorway.
“I hear you’re a god, but we both know thats not really the truth.” Her words are spoken softly, but there is a bite in their intention, clearly designed to undermine the aura of superiority oozing out of the man.
“And how would you know that?” His eyes track the young woman, but he remains relaxed with his back against the wall of his cell.
“Well, it wouldn’t really make too much sense for a god not to be tied to their, let’s call them elements. Like sure, you’re probably good at pulling pranks or performing tricks or whatever, but is your existence tied intrinsically to… honestly, I still don’t really know what you are supposedly the god of, being a trickster?” Like seemed briefly unsettled by her line of logic.
Leaning towards his verbal sparring partner, Loki’s glare seems to sharpen on his target, “You don’t seem like the religion-bound type of mortal. “
“Religion is belief in something intangible or unproven, my faith is wholly in that which I have experienced and that which has tangibly interacted my life.” She ignores the glint that sparked in Loki’s eyes as she stalked from the room, intent on finding Andrew and discussing her determination of Loki’s divinity. Loki was left contemplating his assumptions about the mysterious young woman until Agent Romanov entered the room.
——
As Perce re-enters the lab space to stand next to Andrew, she just overhears Stark accusing Fury, “I’m sorry, Nick. What were you lying?” She ignores the tension in the room and the escalating conversation to murmur into Andrew’s ear, unaware that Rogers and Thor were able to overhear her words, “They’re not gods. Potentially long-lived aliens with abilities to manipulate elements, etc. but they are not gods.”
Thor’s attention is drawn back to Fury as the man points and accuses him, “Me?”
“Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that level a small town. We learned that not only are we alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.” Fury’s tantrum is almost amusing to Andrew and Persephone, especially since the rest of the room’s occupants remain oblivious to the extreme threats that the pair had faced let alone all those that remained a threat to the natural order of the world.
“Remind me again-“ Perce cuts off the Captain and decides to intervene on the escalating conversation as a whole by stepping forward as a physical barrier in the middle of the ring of those present.
She holds up a hand to halt any comments before she has a c chance to speak, “You all are clearly a disaster. How do you expect to defend the planet from an alien army if you can’t have one non-dysfunctional conversation? Gods, do you have any sense of team dynamics or any hope against a threat of this scale.” She doesn’t mention her slip in saying gods or the implication that she has fought global threats that catches Agent Romanov’s attention.
Romanov chooses to speak up, “Are you prepared to face this threat? You’re what nineteen?”
Persephone squares her shoulders to the spy and Andrew flanks her as silent support, “Twenty actually, but I am more than prepared to sacrifice my life to protect this planet. I have faced dangers beyond your comprehension before and I have survived near-lethal injuries, so I would thank you not to test my resolve when it’s yours that may be weak.”
A stunned silence falls over the room in which Andrew reaches out to grasp Persephone’s elbow and draw her back from the spy. Before anyone breaks the silence, the helicarrier is rocked by an explosion.