97 Chapter 97: Infinity Stones

"You sure you're okay?"

Nodding, Harvey turned to Wanda and smiled at her reassuringly. Pietro was sitting on the table with his arms crossed and looked impressed. They were inside their respective room on the Helicarrier, and Harvey just finished telling them what had happened when Natasha, Tony, Steve, and himself went to capture Loki.

"I'm fine, Wanda." Harvey nodded and rolled his right arm. He was in a tight white shirt while the top half of his suit lay on his small bed. The backside was slightly charred. "Hopefully, Haley can make repairs easily."

"The Norse god of thunder." Pietro said as he looked over at Harvey's singed suit. "You actually fought Thor. And you won!"

"I wouldn't call it a victory." Harvey said and grabbed a bottle of water. "The fight was stopped when Tony joined in."

"Thor said this Amora woman is a magician." Wanda said as she took a sip of her water. "I wonder how I compare to her?"

"If we run into her, then you might find out. Who's better to fight a magician than another magician?" Pietro said as he hopped off the table and stretched.

"We should be careful. Thor said she was one of the best. She shouldn't be taken lightly." Harvey said and grabbed Wanda's arm. "Be careful if you run into her. Be sure you stick with one of us."

Wanda frowned slightly and nodded. "Maybe I should have kept up my training instead of studying… I could've been more help."

Pietro and Harvey looked at one another and frowned. Wordlessly, they sat at each of Wanda's sides and leaned into her. Wanda looked at them in confusion and felt her cheeks heat up.

"Listen, sister. I'm happy you're getting your education. That's the life I always wanted for you." Pietro said and grabbed Wanda's hand.

"Pietro's right. Fighting is what we do. I wouldn't have brought you along if the situation wasn't as serious as it was. But I know you're one of the strongest people I know when the chips are down. Your power has amazing potential, and you shouldn't put yourself down. Just have faith in yourself." Harvey said and rubbed Wanda's back. "You can do anything you put your mind to."

Wanda felt like she wanted to cry. Instead, she shut her eyes and nodded. She brought them in for a hug, and the three enjoyed each other's comfort.

["It's time you three."] Natasha spoke from the communicators on the table Pietro once sat on.

Harvey stood up and picked up his custom communicator. "Roger that."

The twins stood up, and Pietro tossed Harvey the top half of his suit. Harvey thanked him, slipped it on, and attached his communicator to the inside of the collar. Wanda put on her red jacket, and Pietro slipped on his silver jacket.

"You ready?" Harvey asked as he held onto the door knob. The twins nodded and slipped their earpieces on. "Let's go."

•••

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

Everyone looked at Thor with nervousness as he finished speaking. They were all standing on the bridge of the Helicarrier and were discussing what Loki's plan could be. Steve frowned and turned to Thor.

"An army, from outer space?" Steve asked from the chair he sat in front of the conference table.

"So, he's building another portal." Bruce said as he walked back and forth. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

Thor looked alarmed at the mention of the doctor's name. "Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist." Bruce said as he approached the table.

"He's a friend." Thor said and looked down with concerned eyes.

Natasha leaned over the table and swiped through several windows on the monitor. "Loki has them under some kind of spell- along with one of ours."

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Steve said and tapped the table as he spoke.

Harvey frowned and leaned on the table. Pietro and Wanda sat beside him. "You're right. But he must have a goal in mind. If we're not careful, we may end up playing into his hands."

"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 with hostility. Causing Pietro to chuckle at the bag of cats part.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother." Thor said defensively. Bruce looked away and pressed his lips together.

Wanda frowned and looked over at Natasha. "Hasn't he killed like a hundred people so far?"

"Eighty-two." Natasha said with a nod.

"He's adopted?" Thor said weakly. Harvey huffed and glared at the blonde man.

"He's dangerous." Harvey said. Thor looked like he wanted to argue. In the end, he sighed and looked down.

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?" Bruce said and looked at everyone at the table.

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony said as he and Phil entered the bridge from the side door. Tony talked softly to Phil, but the man kept trying to walk away. "I'm saying, take a weekend; I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive."

Tony began walking towards the bridge's main control panel and looked at the monitors in confusion. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD. Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants."

"Ah, raise the mizzen mast, ship the topsails." Tony said and spoke out to the bridge crew. They turned to him and looked at him weirdly. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

"Stark." Pietro said. Tony turned to them.

"The twins. Didn't know you were a part of the band, too." Tony walked over to them and patted Harvey on the back. "Your tailor is gonna be pissed when they see that."

"You have no idea." Harvey nodded and sighed. Tony smiled and walked back to the controls.

"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source- of high energy density. Something to-" Tony spoke as he swiped through the several windows of the control panel. On the last monitor, he discreetly placed a small hacking device on the side of the hard drive panel. "Kickstart the Cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria said and looked at Tony unbelievingly.

Tony turned to Maria. "Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers- am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve said and looked at Tony as he walked up to the table.

Bruce paced around with his glasses in his hand. "He'd have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier."

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the Quantum Tunneling effect." Tony said, walked around the table, and headed towards Bruce.

Bruce nodded and waved his arms to his side. "Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally. Someone who speaks English." Tony said and shook Bruce's hand.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve said with a confused expression. Pietro and Wanda also shared in his confusion.

"No, I'm pretty sure they were making up half of that." Pietro said and leaned on the table.

"I'm sure Alex would have understood what they were saying." Wanda said and leaned on the table.

"It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you- lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Tony said, and Bruce looked uncomfortable towards the end.

"…thanks." Bruce said offhandedly.

"Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join him." Nick walked into the bridge and looked over to Tony.

"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve said and looked over at everyone.

'Harvey.' Zarathos said. Gaining Harvey's attention.

'What is it, partner?' Harvey said in his mind. He idly listened to what everyone else was saying but focused on Zarathos.

'I've been thinking why that scepter the Asgardian held felt familiar to me.' Zarathos said with an uncharacteristic, serious attitude.

Harvey frowned and looked down. Wanda noticed his change in attitude. She looked at him questioningly. Zarathos continued. 'It's because that scepter is not just a spear. Inside the blue jewel lies an Infinity Stone.'

'An infinity Stone?' Harvey asked as Tony and Bruce left the bridge. Harvey looked over at Nick, who nodded. Harvey then turned to the twins.

"I'll see you guys later." Harvey said, and the twins nodded. He had already filled them in on his secondary mission of keeping watch over Bruce in case he unleashed the Hulk.

"Okay." Pietro offered him a thumbs up and looked over at Natasha. "So, where's the cafeteria on this ship?"

Natasha smiled and stood up. "Follow me."

As Harvey was about to walk out of the bridge. Wanda grabbed his wrist, stopping him. Turning to look at her, Harvey raised a brow.

"Be careful… okay?" Wanda whispered.

Harvey stared at Wanda for a while and smiled. "You got it. I'll see you later."

Wanda nodded and let him go. Harvey followed after the two geniuses by tracking their souls and ended up in a large lab full of technology and monitors.

"The Gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process." Bruce said as he moved a beeping handheld device back and forth over the scepter. The scepter rested on a large table with a small monitor attached to it with several cables.

Harvey ignored whatever Tony was saying and focused on the scepter. 'So inside that is an Infinity Stone. What exactly is an Infinity Stone?'

'Before creation itself, there were six singularities. Then, the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots... Infinity Stones.' Zarathos explained, and Harvey's eyes glowed slightly as he zeroed in on the scepter. 'These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence. Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time. If you hold even one of these stones, it could make you one of the most powerful beings in the universe.'

Harvey's eyes grew wide, and he took an unconscious step back. 'And Loki had one of them?! No- he must not know what he had; otherwise, he would never have let it go. Could the Tesseract also be an Infinity Stone?'

Zarathos hummed. 'It's possible. We won't know until we get close enough to inspect it.' Before Harvey could respond, he spun his head at the sound of a short zapping of energy.

"Ow!" Bruce said as he looked at Tony in shock. Tony leaned in and studied Bruce.

"Nothing?" Tony asked after a few seconds.

"Hey!" Steve yelled and walked over to the two geniuses. Harvey sighed as he saw no change in Bruce's completion. "Are you nuts?!"

Harvey sighed and stood by as the three other men argued and talked about what was truly going on behind the scenes. He couldn't help but be impressed at Tony's foresight. In the end, Steve became frustrated and left the lab. Taking this as his sigh to make his next move, Harvey stepped off the wall he was leaning on and turned to the geniuses.

"I have something to take care of. I'll see you two around." Harvey said, and both men nodded.

Walking through the elaborate halls of the Helicarrier, Harvey glared at the space in front of him. Utterly oblivious to the fact that the SHIELD agents that walked past him looked at him in fear as they pressed their backs against the walls as they waited for him to pass.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity. Harvey came to a stop in front of two large steel doors with several heavily armed SHIELD agents standing guard in front of them.

"Stop. You don't have the clearance to go in there." The female SHIELD agent said and held a hand in front of him. Harvey watched as the rest of them placed their hands on their weapons and eyed him wearily. "You're going to have to leave the pre-"

"Move." Harvey said coldly. His eyes glowed with power. "Or I'll make you move."

A tense silence hung over the agents as they looked at one another. One brave agent began raising his assault rifle but froze when he received a message in his earpiece. The agents turned to one another and nodded; they all moved to the side, and the female agent from the beginning punched in a code on the keypad, and the steel doors opened slowly.

"We apologize. Sir." The agent said and motioned for Harvey to continue.

Harvey ignored them and walked into the large room that contained Loki. The god of mischief turned his head and watched as Harvey approached his vast, transparent prison.

"It's you." Loki said with a glare. "I told your silly little friends I have no idea where the Tesseract is."

"Do you take me for a fool?" Harvey said with a cold tone and stepped close to the prison cell. Loki looked down at his door and saw that his boot was a half-inch away from the glass. "How did Fury put it? Thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. Tell me, god of mischief. Could you survive such a fall?"

"You're bluffing." Loki said evenly and twitched as Harvey inched closer. He was now a quarter inch away.

"You tell me." Harvey said, and his eyes shifted red. "Where are the other Asgardians?"

"I told you… I was betrayed. I have no idea where they are." Loki smiled and waved his arms. "They could have returned to Asgard with the Tesseract. Anything is possible."

"You wanna play that game? Fine." Harvey kicked the glass, and Loki flinched and braced himself. Looking around, Loki realized that the prison cell auto-eject feature was restricted to the inside. "Fear. It's an amazing tool. It can make even a god shake in his boots."

"You petulant child!" Loki yelled angrily and walked up to Harvey. Rage blazing in his eyes. "You dare mock a god?!"

"I see no god. Just a sad, pathetic man that's upset because his daddy didn't choose him to rule. And why would he? You're nothing but a disappointment." Harvey said slowly and deliberately.

After all his time as Vengeance and the Ghost Rider, he had become extremely good at peeking inside at what made his targets tick. And he knew just where to poke them to make them cry just the right tune. Exactly like Loki began to do in front of him.

"How dare you. Once I'm outside of this wretched cage, I'll wring the life out of your eyes, and I'll have that green monster crush your loved ones in front of you before you die at my hand!" Loki raged as he yelled at Harvey. However, Harvey said nothing and listened calmly, unbothered by Loki's threats.

"The only reason you're still alive is because you know where the Tesseract is. Otherwise, I wouldn't have hesitated in burning your soul into eternal damnation." Harvey whispered and pressed a hand against the glass.

Loki watched as the side of Harvey's face burned away to reveal an exposed skull. He could only watch in stunned silence as the pitch-black hole where his eye once stood glowed an orange light. Loki felt a cold sweat envelop his body as small visions of all his misdeeds played through his mind. A second layer, they stopped, and Loki found himself breathing quickly. He looked up and saw Harvey's face completely fine. Was that a trick?

"I'll find your accomplices soon enough." Harvey said as he began to walk out of the room. As he stood before the steel doors, Harvey turned and looked into Loki's eyes. "Then I'll finish what I started in Germany."

Harvey walked out of the room and left Loki alone. His dark eyes shook slightly as he stood to his feet.

"What is he?"