Golden Eyes

“Agent Carson! Agent Romanov! Where are you off to in such a rush?” We didn’t really answer but I rather just grabbed his massive arm and yanked him with me.

“No time to talk! Just run!”

In our line of business if someone was running you didn’t ask questions, you just followed. Natasha was just behind me as we raced down the hall. We had to stop at the door leading to the west side of the craft to punch in my code but other than that we didn’t really stop for anyone. If Loki was in fact going to use Banner to destroy things for him what was the best way to cause more causalities?

In the air.

We flew into the lab that Banner had been working in to find a yelling match going on between Steve, Stark, Banner, and Fury. “What the hell is going on?!”

“I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit.” At that moment, Thor and Natasha came into the lab behind me. Natasha kept her eyes right on Banner. Banner looked at her, pissed.

“Did you know about this?” he asked her. His face was turning red and I inadvertently took a tiny step backwards.

“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?” Natasha said calmly eyeing his every move. I looked around the room to find Steve glaring at me. What the hell was going on in here?

“I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed.” He screamed at her and I flinched.

“Loki's manipulating you.” I said looking away from Steve to Banner hoping to defuse the situation.

Banner gave a hard and empty chuckle. “And you've been doing what exactly?”

Natasha stepped in front of me to keep his rage on her. If it came to evading skills if the Hulk broke out she would last longer than I would. “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.”

I rounded on Fury in shock. I had NOT been made aware of that. “What the hell Director? Have you lost your mind?! Why would you even attempt to try and contain that thing?”

Fury looked at me and sighed. He probably never told me because he knew I would never agree to such a thing. The Tesseract was too powerful for us humans and would one day destroy us all if someone used it for bad instead of good. Not to mention it messes with peoples minds. Steve looked at me suspiciously for a moment but I ignored him. I had bigger things to worry about than if a man believes me or not. “Because of him.”

Fury pointed at Thor as he continued to stare at me. Thor looked at him stunned. “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.” Fury continued to explain to us as he looked at each and everyone.

“My people want nothing but peace with your planet.” Thor said slightly louder. I could tell now he was offended and insulted.

Fury turned to him. “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, they can't be controlled.”

“Like you controlled the cube?” Steve said sarcastically.

“You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war.” Thor looked at Fury like it was his own fault, and in a way it was. I pinched the bridge of my nose and blew out frustrated air. I was getting a headache. Who’s idea was it to put all these Alpha males in the same room again?

“A higher form?” Steve’s eyebrows rose in question.

Fury slightly shrugged. “You forced our hand. We had to come up with something.”

“Nuclear deterrent. `Cause that always calms everything right down.” I said with a sarcastic laugh.

Stark agreed with me. “Apparently they haven’t learned the first time.”

“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?” Fury said rounding on him.

“I thought humans were more evolved than this.” Thor said to me and I had to agree actually.

“This is pretty calm for them honestly. I’m surprised no one’s thrown any punches yet.” I looked up at the over 6 foot tall God next to me. He smiled at me excited, like he couldn’t wait for that to start happening.

“Excuse me, did WE come to YOUR planet and blow stuff up?” Fury asked him directing his angry eye at the man next to me.

Thor could only shake his head in disbelief. “Did you always give your champions such mistrust?

Everyone just kept yelling at each other over things they’ve done in the past or should have done. The rage could have been cut with a plastic butter knife with how tense it was in the small lab. The egos of these people keeping rubbing off each other and at any moment, the shit will hit the fan.

“You speak of control, yet you court chaos.” Thor yelled at Fury.

“It's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a time-bomb.” Banner threw his hands up in the air in a small exploding motion.

“You need to step away.” Fury said eyeing Banner as he kept slowly backing towards the Tesseract. Did anyone else notice if it was a little brighter? Or was it just my better sight that made it seem like it was glowing?

Stark put his arm around Banner. “Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?”

Steve pushed Tony off him. “You know damn well why! Back off!”

I gave Thor an ‘I told you so’ look before rushing over. The giant lab table and computers were in the way but I didn’t care. I somersaulted over it all and landed between the two men shoving them away from each other as they came face-to-face. They were both stronger than put together so trying to push them apart was beginning to seem futile.

“Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me.” Stark challenged Steve and looking at Steve I knew he wouldn’t back down anytime soon.

“Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?” Steve commented with a sort of growl in his voice.

“A genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Now back the fuck off, both of you!” I screamed at them and shoved them away from each other with all my strength. They barely budged and screamed in frustration as they back at each other’s throats.

“I know guys with none of that worth ten of him.” He looked at me briefly before glaring back at Stark. Oh my God I hate men! “Yeah, 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.” Stark said like it was quite obvious and anyone would do the same thing.

Steve smiled at him, but it held no humor it. “Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.”

At this point it was mostly me pushing Steve back away from Stark who mostly just stood there but that comment really did it in for him. “A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!”
“Stark!” I said horrified looking at him. He didn’t look at me nor did he take back what he said. Steve puffed up his chest at Tony, who just stands there, unmoving.

“Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds.” Thor laughed at them. This was getting out of hand! I turned to Fury and Natasha for help but I was the only one stupid enough to get between them.

“You people are so petty... and tiny.”

“Not helping Thor!” I yelled at him. If looks could kill he would be 20 feet under. “Fury! Do something please! I like my limbs attached to my body thank you.”

“Yeah, this is a tee-.” Banner was cut off by the director.

“Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-.” Fury began before he was then cut off.

“Where? You rented my room.” Banner said pointing back towards the way of the room that held Loki.

“The cell was just in case...” Fury started to explain.

“In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!” We all stopped to stare at him. My hand was still on Steve’s chest and I could feel his heart racing a mile a minute. I watched my hand rise and fall with his chiseled chest. It was so small next to him. I quickly looked away back to Banner but I left my hand there. It honestly felt nice there. “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 risk!” Banner slowly gets upset as he looks at Romanoff, who gets unnerved. No one knew he tried to kill himself. “You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?”

Natasha and Fury have their hands down to grab their guns in an instant. Holy shit! Steve quickly pulled my closer to him and angled me away from Banner in a protective maneuver. “Doctor Banner... put down the scepter.”

Banner looked at him confused before he looked down shocked to see that he had grabbed the scepter that Loki had been using. The one I could swear was glowing. The computer beeps causing us all to jump. They all turn to it but Steve didn’t let me go as he was still eying Banner with the scepter.

“Got it.” Stark yelled after he hit a few keys. Banner puts down the scepter and walks over to the computer. Steve slowly released his arms from mine and took a step back. I blinked and took a deep breath not realizing I had been holding it.

“Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all.” Banner said with a grateful yet sad smile. I felt a pang of guilt and sadness over everything he had been through.

I cleared my throat before I spoke. “Located the Tesseract?”

“I can get there faster.” Tony said and I honestly believed he could.

Steve started to speak before Thor cut him off. I grumbled. Were we going to have another repeat of the fight already? “Look, all of us...”

“The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it.” Tony turns to leave, but Steve stopped him.

“You're not going alone!”

“You gonna stop me?”

“Put on the suit, let's find out.” He challenged once more and I slammed my fist on the lab table.

“God dammit Rogers! Back off!”

“I'm not afraid to hit an old man.” Stark said ignoring me and taking a step toward him. I threw my hand sup in frustration and started walking away. I hope they fucking break each other’s jaws so we could wire them shut!

“Put on the suit.” Steve repeated himself. At that moment Banner, who's looking at the monitor, notices something about the Tesseract.

“Oh, my God!” What now?!

Next thing I knew there was loud explosion and everyone was thrown in every direction. I was thrown into the table which toppled over from my impact. It fell on me and I yelled out in pain as it pinned me down on my back. Son of a bitch could today just go right? Steve, Fury, Thor and Tony are thrown across the room while Natasha and Banner are thrown out and down the window that leads to the lower equipment room. Steve looked up at Tony.

“Put on the suit!” Steve repeated only he held a much different tone with it this time.

“Yep!” Tony agreed, both men forgetting they were ready to rip each other’s throats out. Steve helped Tony up before both men ran to my side and lifted the table. Steve went to open his mouth to ask if I was okay but I was still pissed with them. I just screamed at him to go and they left out of the lab.

I just laid on the floor for a few more moments letting my quick healing take place. I could feel that the table had left an impression on my back from how heavy it was. I grumbled once more before getting to my feet. I felt wobbly but soon enough I was running after the men to see what I could do to help.

Now what was going on?