Beautiful Chaos

{part one | chapter six}

Nat had always had the upper hand, she just needed Loki to think he was getting under her skin, breaking her. So when she turned around, completely composed after she had looked so small, so scared, so hurt by the god's harsh words, Loki's face contorted in confusion.

Lilith smiled to herself as she watched from the lab, "Gotcha."

"Hey, Lils," Tony called, "Loki's trying to unleash the big, green, rage-monster over here," he nodded to Bruce, who stood behind him. Lilith's eyes widened and placed her earpiece back in her ear and listened.

"Keep Banner in the lab," Nat spoke quickly, "I'm on my way, send Thor as well. Thank you for your cooperation." Her last sentence was aimed at Loki, a smug look washing across her features. Tony and Banner had stopped working on the scepter to rest their tired minds for a few moments when Fury walked in.

"What are you doing, Mr.Stark?"

"Uh... I've kinda been wondering the same thing about you."

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

"You're supposed to keep my daughter out of harm's way, Fury," Fury opened his mouth to speak, but Tony continued before he could, "Relax, we're working." The SHIELD director turned to Banner for confirmation.

"We are. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"You'll get you're cube back," Tony said, "No muss, no fuss." The lab's monitors started flashing.

"What's 'Phase Two'?" Lilith asked from her desk.

"I'll tell you what phase two is," Steve said, storming into the lab and dropping a hydra assault rifle on the desk in front of the group, "Phase two is shield uses the cube to make weapons," he turned to Tony before saying, "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

Fury tried hastily to explain that they had gathered everything in relation to the tesseract, "But that doesn't mean-"

"I'm sorry, Fury," Lilith spoke up from where she stood, flipping her monitor so every one could see the weapon plans, "What were you lying?"

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

"Did you know about this," Lilith turned on Nat, who had just entered the lab with Thor, "Nat?" Natasha ignored her and turned to Bruce instead.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"

"I think I'll stay."

"Lilith," Natasha said, her tone demanding, "Please escort Dr. Banner to the hallway." Lilith didn't move a centimeter from where she stood.

"Loki is manipulating you, Banner," Nat said, rolling her eyes in Lilith's direction.

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

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes," Natasha remarked, turning to face Bruce again.

"And I don't plan on leaving just because you're a little twitchy," Bruce fired back, "I-"

"Enough," Lilith said sharply. They all turned to look at her, "Stop bickering," She turned her gaze to Fury, "Why is shield using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction?"

"'Cause of him," Fury said, nonchalantly pointing towards Thor, "Last year we had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. Not only are humans not alone, we are hopelessly, hilariously, dangerously, outgunned, little girl."

Thor protested that his people only wished for peace with earth but Fury knew what he was talking about. The Asgardians weren't the only ones out there, and they certainly couldn't be the only threat.