The Bird

"I just wanted to apologize for my dad. He can be an asshole. I mean, he's a genius, but an asshole."

I babbled on as Captain - I mean Steve and I walked through the helicarrier.

"He's nothing like Howard. Except for the outgoing personality and the need for flare."

"Well, my dad holds a lot of resentment towards his father. I mean, my grandfather spent most of my dad's childhood searching for you."

Steve stopped in front of a door saying 'Secure Storage'. "You sure talk a lot."

"Yeah, sorry. Nervous habit.:

"I make you nervous?"

"Well, I always get nervous in social situations. I try to avoid them as much as possible..." I trailed off as Steve forced the door open. 'Wow.' I mouthed. Imagine what else he could do with that strength. Oh, stop it Skye.

"You're not really like your father." Steve pulled me out of my mental argument.

"No. He ignored me most of my life. I'm not a genius so I always played second fiddle to the company."

"What about your mother?"

I laughed. "My mother's locked up in a mental hospital. I never really got to know her. One of my father's ex-coworkers injected her with a serum that drove her mad. The same serum they injected me with."

Steve suddenly climbed on one of the crates, practically flying up to the metal walkaway above us, landing soundlessly. I just kinda stood there with my mouth open like a dork.

"Uh..." I looked from the floor to Steve. "I don't think I can do that."

"Just get up here where I can reach you. I'll help you the rest of the way."

Here goes nothing. I climbed to the top of the stacked crates. I could reach the top of the railing if I jumped, praying I don't miss.

Two strong hands grabbed my arms as I hung from the railing, lifting me effortlessly onto the walkway.

"Thanks." I breathed out, realizing how close I was to the American Icon. "We should probably look for the stuff..."

"Sorry, ma'am." Steve immediately backed away from me, turning and walking among the crates.

"So, what are we looking for exactly?"

"What Fury's been hiding from us. Why he wants the Tesseract so badly." He began opening crates.

"Phase 2." I read the label. "Uh, Steve?" I looked down at the contents of the crate. "I think I found it."

Steve came up behind me, the warmth of his body radiation off him. He opened up other crates, finding the exact same thing.

"Phase 2. SHIELD uses the Tesseract to make weapons." Steve aid, picking up one of the guns. "That's why he wants it back." Steve turned and started walking back the way we came.

I followed him, almost having to run to keep up with his long strides. Steve effortlessly jumped to the ground, looking back up at me.

"Jump. I'll catch you."

I eyed the gun and he placed it on one of the crates before holding his arms out. I climbed over the railing, taking a deep breath before jumping.

I opened my eyes only to be lost in the very blue eyes of Captain America. We stared into each others eyes for a few seconds before Steve cleared his throat, a blush finding its way to his cheeks. Holy cow. I made Captain America blush.

Steve set me back on my feet and I held on to his (very large) bicep to make sure I could hold myself us after that...event.

"What are you going to do now?" I asked Steve as we made our way through the labyrinth of halls again.

"We're going to get some answers ma'am."

We walked back to the lab, my dad and Dr. Banner still there with Director Fury.

"What is 'Phase 2?'" My dad asked.

Steve threw the gun down on one of the metal tables, making me jump slightly.

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean..."

"I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?" My dad said, spinning one of the screens around, showing a blueprint for one of the guns.

"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit."

Thor and Natasha walked into the lab.

"Did you know about this?" Dr. Banner asked Natasha.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha asked.

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."

"Loki is manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what, exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of him." Director Fury pointed at Thor.

"Me?"

"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."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? 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?" Steve interjected.

"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 Earth is ready for a high form of war."

"A higher form? You forced our hand. We had to come up with something-"

"A nuclear deterrent. Because that always calms everything right down." My dad said from right next to me. I hadn't realized I'd been inching closer and closer to him.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Mr. Stark."

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep..." Steve started moving towards Director Fury.

"Hold on. How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry. Isn't everything." Oh boy. Wrong move.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this."

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

"You treat your champions with such mistrust."

"Are you boys really that naive? SHIELD monitors potential threats."

"Captain America's on threat watch?" Dr. Banner asked.

"We all are."

"Wait, you're on that list?" My dad asked. "Are you above or below angry bees?"

The air in the room grew more and more tense, making it hard to breathe. I could almost hear Loki laughing in my head. Oh god, something bad is going to happen.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor said.

"That's his M.O. isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb." Dr. Banner said.

"You need to step away."

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" My dad put his hand on Steve's shoulder.

Steve pushed it off immediately. "We know damn well why. Back off."

"I'm starting to want you to make me."

"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor." Steve moved around my dad. "Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. 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.:

"Always a way out. You may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." My dad stepped closer to Steve.

"Okay." I said, stepping in between them, one hand on Steve's abs, the other on my dad's arc reactor. "Everybody just needs to calm down."

"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds."

Thor started laughing. "You people are so petty. And tiny."

"Yeah. This is a team." Dr. Banner said.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his..." Director Fury started.

"Where? You rented my room."

"The cell has just in case..."

"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't. I know. I tried. 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 rusk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"

My hands dropped back to my side as the two armed people in the room reached for their weapons.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said. "put down the scepter."

Suddenly the computers started beeping.

"Got it." Dr. Banner placed the spear back on the table. "Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I can get there fastest." My dad said.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it.

"You're not going alone." Steve grabbed my dad's arm and my dad hit his hand away.

I got in between them again.

"You gonna stop me."

"Put on the suit. Let's find out."

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit."

"Oh my god." I heard Dr. Banner say.

Then everything exploded.

I couldn't breathe. There was an arm around me, like someone had grabbed me when we were thrown back.

"Put on the suit." Someone said above me before pulling me to my feet.

"Yeah." Someone grabbed my arm, pulling me from the lab, out into the hallway. An alarm was going off and people were running everywhere.

"Skye, stay here. I'll come get you when it's safe."

My dad ran off without so much as a goodbye. I knew I should have gone into my room, locked the door and prayed for this to all be over soon, but I knew I couldn't There was one thing on my mind at that moment.

Loki.