『ᴀʀᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇʟ || ᴀ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴇʟ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

Ch. 25: Explanation

I sat on a chair in the lab, fiddling with a pen in my hand as Bruce placed a cup of tea in front of me. I gazed up at him as he sat across from me, lifting his own cup of coffee to his lips, eyes scanning my face before placing the cup down on the coaster, "Alright, you're here. Let's talk."

I nodded, lifting the tea to my mouth as I took in the bitter flavor.

We hardly talked to each other, but damn. He already knew my taste in tea. I hummed, placing the cup down as I straightened my back, "I know this was sudden. A random video call from Jeremiah and I. We're asking a lot here. If you don't want to help us, it's fine."

"I'll do what I can. Tony on the other hand, he might not be as willing," Bruce grimaced, thinking of the confident billionaire.

I laughed quietly, looking at Jeremiah before turning my attention back to the scientist in front of me, "You and Stark had to track the Tesseract back in 2012."

"We did. It was one hell of a show."

"Well, during the whole showdown in Washington D.C., I encountered someone I used to know before I was Archangel. Her name is Stephanie Robinson- I have no clue what Louis calls her," I explained, fiddling with the pen in my left hand, "She could make portals. I know that the Tesseract has been in SHIELD's hands for a while, and HYDRA is the one that gave Steph her powers."

"And HYDRA was SHIELD, right?" Bruce asked, tilting his head as he took in the information I was handing to him.

"Yeah, they were one of the same. I have a theory that they used the Tesseract to give Steph her powers."

Understanding sparked in Bruce's eyes, and he leaned forward, "You want me to find radiations similar to the Tesseract's, don't you?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed, "If there's a chance that we can find Steph through similar radiation readings, then I'd do it in a heartbeat. I've done a lot of stuff, and I can't live with the thought of leaving Steph again. I did it before- I'm not putting her through that when she knows I'm alive."

Jeremiah walked behind me, arms folded as he looked at Bruce, "That's why we came to you and Tony. The two of you already have experience finding the Tesseract- we'd just need to pinpoint which ones are moving and which ones aren't."

Bruce nodded his head, and glanced at Jeremiah, "You met Arch's friend?"

"Not necessarily," Jeremiah shrugged, pulling out a chair beside me and sitting down, leaning against the back of the chair, "She found out I was captured at the HYDRA base she was in, and helped me escape. While we fled together, she noticed her friend on top of the building, watching us like a hawk. We stored that information in the back of our heads and left to the helicarrier that you and the other Avengers were in."

"This was during the 2012 invasion?" Bruce asked.

I nodded, "So I instantly flew off in the direction of the helicarrier. Jeremiah waited for a quinjet to come and pick him up instead. I went to the blown engine where I met Steve and Stark, and you know the rest."

Bruce looked at me, before pursing his lips in thought. I glanced to Jeremiah before turning my attention back to him when he spoke up, "I've noticed you like to call people by their last names. You call Cap Steve, but Tony and I 'Stark' and 'Banner'. Is it a favorites thing...?"

I laughed, "No, it's more of a who I'm close to kinda thing. Jeremiah was the first agent I met, that was followed by Natasha, Clint and Coulson. Coulson and I weren't extremely close, but I still trusted him. Fury literally would've strangled me if I called him Nick or Nicholas."

Bruce smiled slightly, "Seemed like he'd do that to anyone."

I looked at the man, before letting out a sigh. I put my right hand in front of him, my left hand going to grip the cup, lifting it to my lips to take a sip from my tea. Bruce looked between my hand and my face, before taking it as well.

I shook his hand, putting down the cup and looking into his eyes, "My name's Nicole Miller."

Bruce stared at me, before a small smile crept up his face, laughing as he shook my hand, "Nice to meet you Nicole. I'm Bruce Banner."

Jeremiah slowly clapped, and I let go of Bruce's hand, turning to him with narrowed eyes, "Wow, that was beautiful. So now can I refer to you as Nicole in his presence?"

I snorted, shoving his shoulder before turning to look at the scientist, "So, can you do it? Can you find Steph?"

He looked down at the watch that was on his right hand, toying with it before looking around the lab. Bruce nodded his head, turning his gaze to me as he got to his feet, "Yeah, I can. We better get started now."

I exhaled, getting to my feet and holding the cup of tea in my hands as I followed him to a set of computers. He sat down in a rolling chair, tapping away at the keyboard as I went to the nearest table. Jeremiah placed his hand on my shoulder, and I looked to him, "You'll get your friend back Nicole. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried," I lied.

I looked away from Jeremiah's look, before he shook my shoulder, "Look, I'm pleased you reached out to find me after the whole SHIELD and HYDRA fiasco. I wish you would've also brought me in on the ride, be a little mole in HYDRA's plans."

"I would've put you in harms way. I was, in no way, going to do that to my friend," I replied, gazing towards him with a fond smile, "But that doesn't matter to me at the moment. What does matter is finding Steph, getting her somewhere safe, dealing with Louis and putting an end to the mischief he's done, and getting my 6 and a half years caught up with my best friend."

Jeremiah nodded, "I understand that. I'll be with you the whole ride if it means Louis will be stopped and your friend doesn't have to continue doing the things that maniac of a 'doctor' forced her to do."

"He's probably still forcing her to do it," I whispered, taking a sip from the cup as I gazed in front of me.

"We'll figure it out and do the right thing. Just... don't go breaking buildings in New York or destroyed three helicarriers again," Jeremiah joked.

I laughed, shaking my head as I focused on the rippling of the irish tea in my hands, "No promises Jeremiah. No promises."