Chapter 5

Focusing on understanding what Loki's scepter is and what it can do, I walk into Banner's lab just in time to see Stark shock him with looks like a miniature cattle prod and stare intently to see if he turns green.

"You really do have a lid on it, don't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"What the hell are you doing, Stark?" I snap at him. The last thing I need to deal with is a pissed Hyde squashing Stark like a bug.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things," Banner assures me while giving Stark the side-eye.

"*sigh* Is he at least helping, Bruce?" I ask him while ignoring Stark's retort, "Are we any closer to finding the cube? Got anything from that staff?"

Rogers walks in as Bruce and Stark explain we have to wait for the tracing algorithms that are searching out gamma radiation worldwide to finish.

I begin examining the staff myself. Its shapeshifting nature and metal composition are strange enough, but the glowing jewel, held by metal blades at the tip, takes all my attention. Something powerful lies within it. I feel it almost reaching out, whispering that if I only took it, no one would ever control me again: freedom.

'So that is how it controls people. Calling out to their desire, influencing their mind.'

Shaking off its attempt, I'm pulled out of my thoughts when Stark starts airing his misgivings about Fury and why SHIELD called us in now and not before.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's THE spy. His secrets have secrets," he points toward Bruce and me, "It's bugging them too, isn't it?"

Rogers looks to me, so I give him my perspective,

"I've had suspicions about SHIELD since they picked me up from Kathmandu. I've had issues with another group that operates in the same way. Fury has gained some trust from me, but I agree with Stark. He's not being fully honest."

Rogers looks toward Bruce for his take.

"Uh... I just... wanna finish my work here and..." Bruce hesitates.

"Doctor?" Rogers pushes

"A warm light for all mankind, Loki's little jab at Fury about the cube." pointing at Stark, " Well, I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn't tell him everything, it's been plastered all over the news."

Rogers looks slightly confused, so Bruce continues,

"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?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files," Stark says, pulling a small rectangular glass display from his pocket,

This catches my and Rogers' attention.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In just a few hours, we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide."

If Stark's AI supercomputer can do that, I can only imagine the help it would be having it trace and identify Hydra once we have a lead on them. The only problem is that Stark has a massive ego. Just asking to borrow his AI butler won't pan out. But there may be something I can do to get a favor from him.

Roger left shortly after, looking slightly torn about possibly being lied to all this time and following orders.

Stark and Bruce ended up talking about science for a while. So I go back to trying to dive into the scepter's jewel, but it fights my intrusion but is losing ground after a time concentrating my effort.

I'm nearing its center, the source of its power, when it starts throwing images into my mind.

Me, alone, standing amongst a field of corpses. I know their faces. All the people, men, women, and children I've killed under Hydra's orders. Looking down, I see my hands are dripping with blood. The corpses start to crawl toward me, clawing at me.

I close my eyes and focus, surge my power around me, and shove the energy the jewel uses on me. The illusion shatters, and I'm back in Bruce's lab.

The jewel shines brightly as I stare at it. The feeling of wanting to obliterate it into nothing is intense, but I hold back for now.

Bruce and Stark's conversation has turned more empathetic, surprising me, especially coming from Stark. They seem to be having a heart-to-heart right now, so I stay quiet and listen.

"I don't get a suit of armor, Tony. I'm exposed, like a raw nerve. It's a nightmare." Bruce says dejectedly.

"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart," Stark taps on his mini-arc reactor in his chest," This stops it, This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege."

"But you can control it."

"Because I learned how."

"It's different." Bruce sighs, trying to end the conversation by focusing on reading data on a display, but Stark swipes it away and stares at him through the clear glass screen.

"Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you." Tony emphasizes his point

Bruce looks almost affronted,

"So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life?" he scoffs, "That's nice. It's a nice sentiment."

"I guess we'll find out," Stark says, returning to his workstation.

Stark gained a little respect from me here. He's not just a sarcastic narcissist. He can have his good moments.

"I can relate, Bruce," I chime in, gaining their attention.

Stark had a look like he had been trying to figure out how my ability worked ever since we got on the jet after their fight. Bruce meanwhile had "yeah, sure you do." written on his face.

"I was abducted as a very young child by some bad people who call themselves Hydra. They noticed I had abilities to change things around myself on a whim. So they made me a weapon,"

Bruce and Stark were silent in shock. Stark even more so, as if he recognized the name.

"They conditioned me, brainwashed me to follow their orders without question or emotion. Take what they wanted, kill who they wanted killed. Years ago, they tried to replicate the serum that gave the Captain his abilities. I was chosen to test it since I can't be hurt unless I allow it. It didn't go as they planned. During the experiment, the serum reacted with my power and increased to such a degree even I don't know what I'm truly capable of now. I saw an endless number of realities where I lived a normal life. New emotions I had never experienced, and no control over them."

I pause to let what I had just said settle in,

"Rage was the first emotion I ever felt, and it almost consumed me. I killed everyone conducting the test on me by disintegrating them out of existence. I've spent the last four years just getting a handle on my emotions and the amount of power I now wield over reality itself."

Contemplative silence is what meets the end of my monologue. Bruce is in deep thought, while Stark looks like he's working on a challenging puzzle.

I look towards Bruce,

"In that time, I found healing people as my way of using my power for good. Giving people their lives back the same way I got mine. If you truly, deep down, don't want this life, I can change it."

His head snaps over to stare at me in the eyes with shock. I nod toward Stark next,

"Same goes for you, Stark. If you want that shrapnel out like it was never there, just let me know."

"You're not joking, are you? You can get rid of..." Bruce asks me, a small amount of hope where there had only been depression before.

"I can make it as if your accident never happened. You'd just be "you" again."

He thinks for a few moments before answering,

"Thank you, but I need to think about this."

"I don't!" Stark laughs, "Let's see what you can do, Houdini. I'd rather not be one malfunction away from dying."

I nod, moving my hand just in front of his arc reactor to focus on feeling the metal shrapnel in his chest.

I banish all of the shrapnel from around his heart and his chest before moving to erase the damage they have caused to his body. 

"It's done. Other than that reactor in your chest. You're good as new,"

"Wow, I even feel better than I have in weeks. Jarvis, run a biometrics scan. Is it all gone?" Stark is almost giddy as he pulls out his phone and gives Jarvis the order.

"Scan complete, sir. All shrapnel has disappeared, and the scar tissue has vanished as well. I do not understand, sir."

"Don't worry about that now, Jarvis. I'll look into it later. I've got to call Pepper." He's about to leave, but stops and look at me,

"Thank you, seriously." before leaving the lab while dialing his phone.

Bruce is staring into space in thought, so I just let him be and went to rest in my room. It's been a long day.

_____________________________

I'm shocked awake by the entire ship lurching to the side and listing a few degrees and claxons going off.

My first thought was that I should have killed Loki when I had the chance.

Bolting out of my room, I see the crew in a panic as I displace myself down the hall toward the stairs that run up and down the ship levels. Rapidly flashing up the ship's decks, I make it to the bridge to get some answers on what is happening.

It's utter chaos; the crew are scrambling to their stations while Agent Hill is barking out orders,

"Turn up starboard engine two and keep us level! Get me a sit-rep on engine three! Can we get it running?"

One of the crew yells back to her,

"The turbine is loose, ma'am, mostly intact, but it's impossible to get out there and make repairs while we are in the air!"

"We lose one more engine, we won't be," she speaks into her earpiece," Somebody's got to get outside and patch that engine."

"I got it, Hill. Throw me an earpiece and keep me in the loop." I call out to her, placing it in before displacing off the bridge toward the shredded front left engine.

Looking at the damage reveals it to be more twisted, warped metal than engine now. I see Stark shoot out of the wreckage and start cutting away metal around the turbine to set it free to spin again.

"Stark, I'm above you on the flight deck. I can fix the damage, but I need you and everyone else out of the area or you could be embedded inside it when I do." I call out to him through the communicator.

He whips around and looks up at me before saluting me,

"Got it, Gandalf." the man couldn't help himself before blasting back toward the breach in the ship's side and dragging the injured crew away.

This engine is more extensive than anything I've ever tried to warp. But I know I can do this; I can feel it. I pull from deep within myself and concentrate on what I want to happen.

The entire space around the engine and the hull breach starts to blur and distort as I push on reality, forcing it to conform to my will. Sweat beads across my forehead as I keep focused until finally, "my" reality settles into place, and the engine is whole once again.

The effort exhausted me more than I had been in a long time. Getting my breath back, I hear Stark's voice through the earpiece,

"You and I are going to have a very long conversation about the laws of conservation of mass and energy after this is all over, Dante,"

I can only laugh, but before I can respond, Fury barks through comms,

"Talk later! The Hulk and Thor are fighting on the lower decks. Barton has just shut down our systems and is heading toward the detention level, and multiple hostiles are on board the ship. Get your ass in gear!"

I hear Natasha speak next,

"This is Agent Romanoff. I got Barton."

"I'll give Thor some backup," I say before jumping off the side of the deck and displacing myself down toward the lower shuttle bays.

I flash toward the sounds of smashing and crushing metal to find Thor and Hulk throwing fistsand hammer at one another repeatedly. Thor throws his hammer at him, trying to hit him in the chest, but the Hulk turns to the side and tries to catch it by the handle.

It pulls him off his feet and pins his hand to the ground under the handle.

Taking this chance, I slam down my control over space to lock him in place before displacing myself behind him. Before he could turn his head toward me, I drew my fist back and launched it at the back of his neck.

Having seen what kind of beating the Hulk could take from news coverage of tanks raining shells on him, I spiked up the kinetic momentum and weight of my fist just before contact. The strike caused a pressure wave to blast around us, throwing debris into the walls and causing Thor to skid away.

The Hulk froze momentarily before his knees buckled, and he dropped. His eyes rolled back into his head as he hit the ground and slowly started transforming back into an unconscious Bruce.

Letting out a sigh, I press on my earpiece,

"Hulk has been neutralized. We've got Bruce back, but he's unconscious. Thor's hair is a little ruffled, but he's okay." I call out. Thor gives me a half-hearted glare as he huffs indignantly.

Fury speaks with the sound of gunfire being heard in the background,

"Good! Now you and Thor get to Loki. Barton has been captured, but hostiles are still on their way there!"

I turn to tell Thor, but he's already gone. So I pick up Bruce over my shoulder after reverting the shreds of what used to be his clothes back so that he isn't just naked. And carry him till I find a room to lay him down in.

The sight I receive when I get to the detention level is exasperating.

Thor is locked inside the "Hulk" cell, swinging his hammer at the glass while Loki makes fun of him and gloats.

Loki stands next to the control console of the cell, holding his spear/scepter covered in blood, and has already opened the hatch to drop the cell out of the bottom of the ship.

I see no one else around until I notice Coulson slumped on the ground against the wall with a massive bleeding chest wound. A large weapon is on the floor at his side.

While Thor is keeping Loki's attention, I flash directly into his blindspot and grab him by the back of his head; keeping my momentum, I slam his face into the glass of the cage, shattering his nose and stunning him.

'Oh, man. That felt good.' I smirk before throwing him into the air and locking him in space. I've seen his little magic tricks, so he's not going anywhere.

I look at Thor, and it seems I've surprised even him as his hammer is raised mid-swing, and he stares at me, then Loki, then back to me.

"This is what happens when you just run off without waiting for backup," I say before creating a hole for him to leave the cage and then throwing Loki back in and sealing it.

Moving over to Coulson, he looks terrible. His breathing is shallow, and he's lost a lot of blood but still holding on.

"Don't worry, Coulson. I got you. You're not dying today." I assure him as I start healing the wound and fixing his pierced lungs. His injury fades away, and he coughs a few times, expelling the blood filling his lungs. I ensured his body's blood was back to a healthy amount before turning to the cage with a very irritable Loki, screaming and throwing a tantrum.

Fury rushes in, fearing Loki has escaped, but sighs when he sees him with a bleeding, shattered nose and throwing a temper tantrum inside the cage. He then turns to me and Coulson and notices the blood all over his clothes,

"Coulson-"

"I'm fine, Director. Dante healed me after Loki stabbed me with his scepter." pointing to where Loki dropped it in front of the Cage when I snatched him.

Fury pauses momentarily, looking at the blood on Coulson's shirt and then at Loki.

"We have an issue, gentlemen. Those I've brought together to work together in our most dire hour to fight the battles normal people could not. Fighting amongst themselves. They need a catalyzing event to fight alongside one another against a common enemy. But I have an idea... Coulson, I'm going to need those Captain America trading cards of yours..."