Devil of Menace

11 - Scepter

I rest against the desk next to Banner, who casually stands with his sleeves rolled up, as Tony watches his screen. Fury walks in, surprise showing on his face as he sees none of us are working on the scepter. "What are you doing Mr Stark?" He asks angrily. "Uh...kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony retorts. "You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury reminds the pair. "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 explains casually, clearly becoming used to his environment recently. "And you'll get your cube. No muss, no fuss." Tony adds. Just then a box pops up on his screen and I lean forward to read it.

"What IS Phase 2?" I ask for what feels like the millionth time. Suddenly Steve drops a heavy assault rifle with a bang onto the table causing us all to look at him. And he does not look amused. "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Steve explains, he looks to Tony, "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow." I close my eyes and sigh in both disappointment and annoyance. "Dammit Nick." I mutter. Fury tries to explain, "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-" But his explanation is cut off by Tony. "I'm sorry Nick." He says as he shows the screen that now details the plans for the weapons.

"Why were you lying?" I ask sincerely. "I was wrong, Director." Steve says before Nick has a chance to answer, "The world hasn't changed one bit." I run my hands through my hair and glare at the Director. At that moment Thor and Natasha join us in the lab. Natasha keeps eye contact with Bruce, he stares at her, pissed. "Did you know about this?" He asks. "You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" She suggests in response. "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." He retaliates. "Loki's manipulating you." Natasha mentions. Banner scoffs, "And you've been doing what exactly?" He implores. "You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha retorts. "Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Banner explains.

I interrupt the pair, "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." I prompt. "Because of him." Nick answers, pointing to Thor. Thor looks stunned, "Me?" He booms. "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 explains. Thor appears offended, "My people want nothing but peace with your planet." He affirms. Nick nods, "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." He says. I scoff. "Like you controlled the cube?" Steve asks. "Your 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." Nick expresses.

"A higher form?" I ask for clarification. "You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Nick clarifies. "Nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything right down." Tony murmurs. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Nick asks. Steve pipes up, "I'm sure if he still made weapons Stark would be neck deep-" He begins but I cut him off, "Be careful what you say next Rogers." I warn. "Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?" Tony exasperates. Steve looks at him cynically, "I'm sorry isn't everything." Whilst I partly agree with Steve's comment I can't help the way my jaw clenches in anger, this isn't my Steve. 

"I thought humans were more involved than this." Thor grumbles. Nick turns to the god, "Excuse me, did WE come to YOUR planet and blow stuff up?" He asks. "Did you always give your champions such mistrust?" Thor retaliates. My head spins with the anger filling the room. "Are you all really that naive?" Natasha asks. Everyone looks at her in confusion, "SHIELD monitors potential threats." I explain. "Captain America is on the potential threat watchlist?" Banner asks, shocked. Tony looks to Steve, "You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?" He asks and I roll my eyes so far back I think I see the back of my skull. "I swear to god Stark, one more crack." Steve threatens. Tony gasps and points at Steve, "Threatening! I feel threatened!" He mocks. I feel an energy surge in the room causing a sharp pain to hit me and I wince.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Tony spits at Steve. "Cool it Shakespeare." I snap at Tony and he narrows his eyes at me. "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 rambles, his nerves making an appearance. "You need to step away." I warn. Tony puts his arm around Steve to aggravate the soldier, "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" He asks with a smug grin. Steve pushes him off his shoulder, "You know damn well why! Back off!" Steve shouts. Tony comes face-to-face with Steve and squares up, "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." He threatens. "Big man in a suit of armour, take that off and what are you?" Tony provokes. "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony lists calmly. "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. 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." Steve degrades.

"I think I would cut the wire." Tony suggests. Steve smiles sarcastically, "Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." That did it for Tony, now he was angry. "A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!" He yells and I snap. "That's enough from both of you." I shout, my voice feeling much more powerful than usual.

"Please, something is wrong." I murmur dejectedly.