AVENGERS!

So evidently, it was sooner rather than later.

Earlier this morning, I was called by Director Fury and told that the Avengers were needed. Technically he said that he would need my scientific knowledge to help track a target who destroyed a SHIELD base. After pulling up footage of the event (Yes I hacked into SHIELD Database to get it), I quickly realized that Loki was here.

That means that it was time the Avengers made their debut to the world.

Part of me is excited, it's the Avengers. What Marvel nerd in their right mind wouldn't be? But at the same time, I can't help but worry that I hadn't done enough to prepare or that my actions up to date will change things to a point where I can't prepare? Luckily with the Black Mirror, the second concern is not an issue, but it is still terrifying.

Landing my private helicopter on the SHIELD Helicarrier, I spin in a circle once to take everything as I get out and grin. This is going to be interesting. Wearing my light armor under my long sleeve shirt and jeans, my mask attached at the neck of my costume and hiding in the back of my shirt.

"Dr. Osborn. I wasn't expecting to see you here?" I hear behind me. Turning to the new voice, I see the Incredible Hulks alter ego. Dr. Bruce Banner.

"Dr. Banner! Great to see you!" I laugh as my chopper flies away on autopilot. "So they dragged you here too? By the way, your work on biochemistry is unparalleled, when we are done with this, I have someone I want you to meet, but for now. Let's meet those people." I say in a very rapid fire way as I steer Dr. Banner to the lost looking Captain America and smirking Black Widow.

"Captain! You look lost!" I laugh at the Super soldier, shaking his hand once I reached him. "Allow me to introduce a few people. Captain Rodgers, Doctor Banner. Doctor Banner, Captain Rodgers."

"Dr. Banner." Steve said. "Word is you can find the cube?"

"Is that the only word about me?" Banner replies.

"The only word I care about." With that one sentence, Captain America probably gained Banners loyalty for life.

"It must be strange for you… All this?" Bruce says after gesturing to everything.

"It's actually kind of familiar…" He replies while looking at some of the soldiers training.

"Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe." Romanoff finally says. Apparently she had gone and checked something and had just gotten back.

"Is this a submarine?" I hear Steve ask Widow as I start to head inside. I wanted to see it take off, but I also needed to check the tech they had. It's surprising how ancient some of SHIELDS tech is compared to Starks and mine. I heard Stark was upgrading their tech recently, but I doubt it is as good as some of the stuff he puts out. This is probably low tech in comparison.

Not hearing Banner's response to finding out it was in fact, not a sub, I immediately head to the lab, passing the deck with just a slight wave at Hill and Fury.

Yeah… it was all shit. It would work, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as fast or as in depth as I would want it.

On the plus side, their firewalls are also crap.

The room looked identical to how it looked in the Avengers movie, a few screens here and there, a window showing how high we were, a few counters. Nothing too special. Hacking into their security footage, I cut the sound so me and Banner can have some privacy.

So while I am working on finding the cube, I'm also searching for any files linked to Hydra, even in the slightest. So far I have only found a few blueprints for some of the old Hydra weapons used in World War II and some of the newer stuff SHIELD was making using the Destroyer armor. Speaking of, I need to find that and steal it from SHIELD before events in The Winter Soldier come around, the secrets that thing can give me, technologically and magically, would be astounding.

Continuing my multitasking, I hear the door open again with Bruce and Nat talking a little about his past. Nothing too in depth, but enough for a conversation.

"Dr. Banner." I say, surprising the scientist. "Make yourself at home, unfortunately this stuff isn't as great as Oscorps tech, but it will do for now."

"Oh… Umm… I'm sure it will be fine." He finally manages, obviously trying not to offend me or Oscorp.

"Dr. Banner… Bruce. You don't have to mince words with me. I know of your big green problem, it doesn't bother me in the least." I tell him, not turning from my self-appointed task of locating the Destroyer armor's whereabouts. "You can tell me whatever you want, it's not like you are going to hulk out because of that."

Looking at me in bewilderment, he asks me a very important question.

"You do realize the Other Guy is strong enough to rip through titanium like it was butter, right?"

"Yep." I say, popping the P. "Yet he won't hurt those who help him or he cares about. You probably don't remember this Bruce, but we have met before. Where did you think you got that communicator?" I ask.

"Yo- How? The Other Guy got it sometime after he broke Harlem? The only thing I remember is some sort of demon guy."

"Seriously? Demon Guy? That is the best you could come up with?" I ask, finally looking at the other scientist. "I'll have you know, the official name is The Goblin."

"The Goblin? You mean the guy who helped Stark fight that armored guy at Stark tower?"

Giving him a somewhat deadpan look, I reply. "Yes… The guy who helped Stark beat the armored guy. Anyway… So far I've created an algorithm that should help triangulate the radiation being emitted by the Tesseract, besides that I've also got every Oscorp laboratory in North America looking for anything within a hundred miles."

And with that, we got to work.

/

"In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass, it's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant, boot." Standing outside of the same cage that held Loki, Nick Fury was currently attempting to put the fear of god into Loki.

Yes I am perfectly aware of the humor in that statement.

Standing around the monitors on deck stood Captain Rodgers, Bruce Banner, Thor, Black Widow, and myself. Seeing Thor again was fun, after getting clapped on the back and me giving him a warning to only refer to me as Alex or Osborn instead of Goblin while he was here unless I was in costume, we quickly got caught up. Apparently the nine realms were getting a tad restless after Loki's fall, which doesn't sound good, and due to the Bifrost getting destroyed by Thor, the Asgardians are having issues traveling between realms to help.

Surprisingly enough, Sif missed me. Claimed I was one of the few warriors she deemed worthy enough to fight alongside her or something. I should visit her sometime…

Who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky and get another kiss? Probably wishful thinking, but it is still possible.

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki replies.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury states with certainty. Glancing at Banner, I can almost see him sigh in resignation, almost like he had been expecting it. Personally, I never understood why Fury used Hulks cage to trap Loki. Just because it could hold something capable of destroying cities doesn't mean it could hold the god of tricksters. I doubt anything I threw at him could hold him long either. The guy was essentially the first Houdini.

"Oh, I've heard. A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

The guy is also a master at words. He knew we were watching and he knew how his words were sowing distrust between us. It wasn't exactly doing much with me. I wouldn't trust Fury with maid duty. He'd probably end up bugging everything and knowing all my secrets.

Though seeing Fury in a maid costume would be both disturbing and hilarious.

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

It is kind of funny to watch from an outside perspective. Loki is playing everybody, the Avengers, Fury, everyone. Fury thinks he is scaring Loki, he thinks he is intimidating, but right now he is nothing more than free entertainment for Loki.

"It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is." Loki says with a cold smirk.

"Well, let me know if "real power" wants a magazine or something." Fury sarcastically says as he leaves.

"That went well." I snark.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner says, looking all the world like what was just said didn't bother him.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Captain America asks, trying to figure out exactly what is going on and how to stop it.

"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" Thor replies.

"An army from outer space" Steve says in mild shock.

"Yeah Captain, the world has changed. We have aliens now." I joke.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Bruce says.

"Selvig?" asks Thor.

"He's an astrophysicist." Banner tries to explain.

"He's a friend." Thor says simply.

At this point, Natasha finally speaks up. "Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours."

"I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Captain America says.

"I don't think we should be focusing on guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him"

"Wrong!" I say suddenly. "Thor. Two questions. First one, You Asgardians are known as gods by mortals yes? The question is what is Loki a god of?"

"He is the god of Mischief?" Thor says uncertainly as if he doesn't know where I am going with this.

"Exactly, and if my research is accurate, he is also known as the Liesmith, Silvertongue, and is a master of illusions, correct?"

"Yes… But what does this have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with everything!" I tell them. "Don't you get it? He wants to be here. This is his plan. He is trying to split us apart one by one. He has already attacked Dr. Banner here. He attacked Rodgers a bit in Germany with his Man out of Time speech. He attacked Thor when they were on the cliff face before Stark tackled Thor. He is picking us off one by one. A house divided cannot stand and all that."

"How can you tell?" Stark says, apparently he had just walked in.

"I have a degree in advanced Psychology and I've recently started on a degree in ancient Mythology" I deadpan. "Loki is the sort of guy to have a plan within a plan within a plan. I have no doubt that he is exactly where he wants to be. Unfortunately we can't do anything about that until he plays his hand." I sigh. "As for what they stole, Iridium. It's a stabilizing agent, it should theoretically stabilize the portal allowing it to stay open for as long and wide as he wants."

At this point, Stark had taken his place at the captains spot where Fury usually stands and silently slips one of his bugs to the console. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails. That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did. How does Fury even see these?" he rapid fires.

"He turns." Agent Hill states.

"Sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kick-start the Cube." He says.

"When did you two become experts in thermonuclear astrophysics?" She asks us.

"Last night for me. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"On the way over actually. Didn't have much time otherwise." I reply with a shrug.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asks.

"He would have to heat the Cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner replies.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect." Stark counters.

"If he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." I state simply.

"Finally, people who speak English." Stark quips as he slapped me on the shoulder and walks over to shake Banners hand.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asks in confusion.

"Don't worry Captain, just a bunch of science geeks talking. I'll fill you in later." I answer Caps question.

Evidently I missed Stark greeting Banner as Fury just arrived and started speaking.

"Doctors Banner and Osborn are only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join them."

"I would start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube. And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

You know… it's kind of funny, they are soon to be in possession of two of the most powerful items in the multiverse, and they have no clue. If I can get ahold of the spear sometime during the battle of New York… Maybe I can study it and see what attributes it may have or what it can do. Maybe I can make a good version of Ultron? I'd have to test that though.

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor says confused.

"I do. I understood that reference." Steve said, maybe a bit too proud.

"Thor, Steve, we are having a movie night or something. You two are way behind on the time. Just wait till I introduce you to Star Wars."

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asks Bruce.

"This way, sir."

/

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract. But it's going to take days to process"

Currently Banner, Stark, and I were trying to track the cube but unfortunately we haven't been able to narrow it down too much.

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops" (A/N. a unit of computing speed equal to one million million (10^12) floating-point operations per second. See? You learn stuff in this story!)

"Heh. All I packed was a toothbrush." Banner replies.

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it. It's Candy Land." Stark says as he pops a blueberry in his mouth.

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem." Banner says.

"And besides Stark, I already offered him to come over to Oscorp. Dr. Octavius would love to discuss theories with you. Not to mention Dr. Conners." I say, focusing the second half of my statement to Bruce. I was currently running a few tests on the staff itself, it was only due to my mystical training that I can feel the Staff slowly enter my mind and try to affect it. Change it. Make me lose my cool.

They don't trust you… They hate you… you are nothing… they will hurt you… your family… you will fail…

These were just a few things it was whispering into my mind, and shockingly enough I almost fel for them.

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises." Stark says before poking Banner with a small needle like device.

"OW!"

"Hey!" Here enters Captain America in full regalia.

"Nothing?" Stark says, completely ignoring Cap and watching Banner closely.

"Are you nuts?" Steve asks Stark.

"Jury's out." He replies before turning to banner again "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

I nearly laugh at that last one. I forgot that line.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asks Stark, getting up in his face.

"Funny things are." The sheer amount of 'I don't care' in that statement was astounding.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offence, Doc." Steve says.

"It's all right, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Banner replies.

"You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut." Stark again turns to Banner.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr Stark."

"Do you think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables." Stark says, getting back in Steve's face.

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy. Captain, he's "the" spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging them too. Isn't it?" Tony replies while pointing at both me and Banner.

"Uhhhh, I just want to finish my work here, and..." Banner tries to stutter out before Steve gives him a pointed look.

"Doctor?"

""A warm light for all mankind." Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube." He starts to explain.

"I heard it."

"I think that was meant for one of you." He says as he points to both me and Stark. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower or the mini sun, it was still all over the news."

"Mini sun?"

"Something Oscorps been working, essentially making mini suns and using them as batteries." I tell him. "We were the first names in clean energy. Stark's tower is currently powered by his answer to it, an Arc reactor. That little nightlight in his chest." I explain.

"It's just the prototype. We're kind of the only names in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. Bring them in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" Banner continues after we interrupted.

"I should probably look into that once my decryption programme finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files." Stark says offhandedly.

If he wasn't a genius, I'd call him an idiot for blurting that out.

"I'm sorry. Did you say..." Steve tries to say.

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. Has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" He offers.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." Steve says.

"To be honest Captain… It is a bit suspicious, I understand your perspective. You are a soldier, you follow orders, but would you follow orders that would put your team in danger? I've read about you Captain. When you were ordered to act as the Army's trained monkey, you disregarded them in order to save your friend. James 'Bucky' Barnes. Would you be willing to put us in danger if it meant following an order?" I ask.

It was a low blow, but it would get him thinking. Eventually he would need to break away from his obedient soldier persona. He would need to break orders if it meant helping the most people.

"Besides." I continue. "Would you go into battle only knowing half the terrain? Half the info? I wouldn't, I would do everything in my power to know everything about the upcoming battle and preparing for it. That is what I am doing, that is what we are doing."

Captain America, the first superhero, looks at us all for a minute before sighing.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed." He says.

"I know, hence why we have already done all we really need to do. All we have left is to wait for a ping."

With a nod in my direction, he seems to almost deflate in exhaustion.

Leaving the room, Stark, Banner and I get busy again. Stark Hacking Shield, Me tinkering with the scepter, and Banner working on the cube.

/

"Not many people can sneak up on me." Loki says as I enter the room under my magical invisibility, quickly knocking out each camera in the room before sealing the door.

"No. But you figured I'd come." I stated as I release my invisibility. I didn't have much time, if I was correct, Black Widow would come in here in a few minutes to interrogate him, and the cameras getting knocked out should speed that up. I'm guessing about five to ten minutes before they get in here.

"After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate."

"No. That was never my job, I'm the scientist, the guy who figures out your little glow stick. What I want to know is two things. First off, are you in control of your actions?"

Glancing in my direction for a brief second, he went back to simply standing there.

"No answer? I was told you were more talkative than this. Second question, do you know that the gem in your staff contains an Infinity Stone? The Mind Stone in particular?"

Again, nothing more than a glance. This one however was filled with shock, anger, and disbelief.

"Thanos must put a lot of trust into you. Poor judgement on his part, trusting the God of Tricksters I mean."

This time, he didn't even hide his staring at me as I walk around his glass cage.

"You are probably wondering, How do I know about the Mad Titan? Lover of Death? Wielder of the True Infinity Gauntlet? I say true Gauntlet as the one in Odin's vault is nothing more than a show piece meant to impress his guests or act as a decoy so thieves would steal that, a worthless knock off, instead of the good stuff, the Casket of Eternal Winters for example."

"H-How do you know all this? You are Mortal! You should have no-"

"No knowledge? I know much more than you realize. I know your heritage. I know how you killed your biological father while Thor was on Earth. Laufey I think his name was? King of the Frost Giants?"

"LIAR! YOU KNOW NOTHING! BE SILENT AT ONCE!"

"Wrong again Loki. I know more that you could dream of. However, I have made my point and learned what I wanted. Good bye Loki." I say as I disappear from sight and unseal the door. Waiting a moment, Black Widow opens the door and looks around for a second, hand on her gun before walking over to Loki. The cameras turning on again as she sits down.

/

Invisibly merging with my illusionary double, I continue my work on the scepter seconds before Fury, Thor, and Widow barge into the room. All we are missing now is Steve.

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Fury asks at Starks open screens visibly searching through SHIELD stuff.

"Uhhh, Kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Stark replies as he starts to pull a few things up and pops a blueberry in his mouth.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce replies without breaking a sweat.

"Yeah, then you get your Cube back. No muss, no fuss. What is "Phase 2"?" Stark then asks the SHIELD Director as Captain America walks in toting one of the big guns shield has made already.

"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. 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 that we're making..." fury tries to say as Tony cuts him off.

"I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?" Stark says as he shows everyone a weapons blueprint.

"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve says in disgust.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asks Natasha.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Black Widow tells Banner as she reaches for her guns.

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

"Loki is manipulating you."

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

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

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. Is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of him." Fury says pointing at Thor.

"Me?"

"A while back, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that levelled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." Fury accused.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor says defensively.

"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." Fury said with a glance at everyone in the room.

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve says.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor accuses, trying to shift the blame from Asgard back to Earth. The power of the Mind stone was increasing, nearly yelling at us.

THEY DON'T TRUST YOU! THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU! THEY WILL ONLY USE YOU! THEY WILL ONLY HURT YOU!

It was ridiculous.

"A higher form? "

"EVERYBODY, SHUT UP!" I finally yell.

Everyone froze for a second and looked at me, almost like they wanted a reason to bite my head off.

"The damned Spear is altering how we think. How we act. Bringing out our inner anger." I growl. Even I wasn't totally unaffected as I was crushing the steel desk with my strength.

"How come you aren't affected then?" Steve immediately asks.

"Oh I am, and I'm trying not to rip your collective heads off." I say as I slowly melt the steel table with the heat coming off me. "Literally."

"How the hell are you doing that?" Stark asks as he sees the table melting in my hands.

"Cap here isn't the only one with a special serum. "

"You need to step away" Fury tells Bruce.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Stark says as I try and fail from keeping my Extremis made heat from turning the table into more molten metal.

"You know damn well why. Back off!" Cap says.

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

"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

You know the worst part of not being in control right now? Of feeling a huge pit of rage in yourself, yet also knowing every dirty little secret these people have?

You eventually let loose and you don't pull punches.

"Please Stark. You are nothing more than a man in an Iron Coffin. You made that suit to protect you from the terrorists, yet that never satisfied you did it? You had to make one bigger, better, more powerful, but at this point, you can never take it off can you? No matter how hard you try Stark, you will always be attached to that suit. You didn't make a suit of Armor that day. You built yourself an Iron Prison with no way out." I nearly snarl at him. My mind isn't working right, I am trying to fight it, but the stone is too powerful.

"Please, you wear armor too with powers I've never seen. You locked yourself in this too. You can never stop being the Goblin can you?"

"No I can't, but at least if I'm out of costume I can last in a fight." I reply with a snarl, completely ignoring how he dropped my alter Ego's name. "You are a human with no powers and no training, you are nothing more than a man in a suit Stark."

"Hah. You people are so petty… and Tiny…"

"Don't even start Thor, I could cripple you on a bad day" I growl.

"Yeah. This is a team." Banner scoffs,

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his..." Fury starts before getting interrupted.

"Where? You rented my room."

"The cell was just in case..."

"In case you needed to kill me." Banner interrupted again. "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 risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?" as he is saying this, he picks up the staff and shockingly the anger died down.

"Dr. Banner, put down the sceptre." Steve says. Slowly I can feel the heat die down.

BING

"Got it." Stark suddenly says as he walks back over to the computers.

"Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor says. Slowly I can tell that everyone is calming down if slightly.

"I could get there fastest." Stark says.

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

"You're not going alone." Cap says.

"You're gonna stop me? " Stark replies.

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

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

BOOM!

Then things went to hell.