Accidental Avenger

Chapter 10

"Stay in the jet," Steve said. "Stay in the jet, don't go anywhere, don't talk to anyone except us or Dr. Banner. Copy?"

"Copy," I said.

"I still can't believe you let her come," Natasha said. "Is she really any safer here with us than back in New York?"

"She said she didn't want to be left alone," Steve said. "I know what it's like to wake up in a place you don't recognize. Still on the fence about whether I believe her or not, but I can relate to that feeling, at least. If she doesn't want to be left alone in a strange place, she shouldn't be left alone in a strange place."

Natasha looked at me.

I smiled at her. "I promise I won't go anywhere. I'll stay right here. I mean, how much trouble can I get into from way over here?"

She shot Steve another glare before exiting the jet without another word. Steve gave me a friendly smile, said something quietly to Bruce, and then left. The rest of the Avengers followed suit until it was just me and Bruce.

I sat down in a seat near the entrance of the jet. "I have a question," I said. "You don't have to answer, but I was just wondering... did the gamma radiation change your DNA?"

Bruce sat down in a seat opposite me. "It did," he said after a minute.

"In the first Avengers movie," I continued. "You said that the Tesseract emitted low levels of gamma radiation, does that mean Loki's scepter could also emit gamma radiation?"

Bruce nodded. "While we had it in the lab back in New York, we actually discovered it emitted similar radiation signatures to the Tesseract. Similar, but not the same." He looked at me. "How much do you know about the Tesseract because of the movies?"

I shrugged. "Not much more than you do, I don't think. Except that I know the Tesseract is one of six Infinity Stones and there's this big purple dude wants them. That's what my brother told me anyway. He said that if the purple dude gets all six stones, then he'll be able to wipe out half of all life in the universe with just a snap of his fingers."

"That sounds a little far-fetched," Bruce said.

"Dr. Banner," I said. "You turn into a giant green rage monsters and a few years ago you managed to fend off an alien invasion."

Bruce smiled and sat back in his seat. "I guess you're right."

"So, anyway, if Loki's scepter could give Wanda and Pietro powers, do you think their DNA was altered too?" I asked.

"Could have been," Bruce said. "But I would need to run some tests to be sure."

"Do you think," I paused. "Well, do you think it was the scepter that brought me here?"

"I'm really not sure," Bruce said. "That's the working theory, but there's no way to know. Interdimensional travel is the stuff of science fiction. The closest we've gotten to anything like that is Thor's Bifrost, and that only works in an interplanetary capacity." He paused.

"If the scepter did bring me here, do you think it could have changed my DNA, too?" I asked.

Bruce cocked his head to the side. "Did something happen back at the tower? Is that why you didn't want to be left alone?"

Before I could answer, interference sputtered through a radio off to my left. Bruce stood up and walked over, listening intently. I could only just make out the sound of a voice, but I couldn't tell who it was or what they were saying.

"Guys?" Bruce hit a few buttons. "Guys can you hear me? What's going on? Is this a code green?" He glanced at me before moving down the ramp to look outside.

I stood up and followed. The jet was parked within a series of abandoned ships. They were rusting and falling apart with various pieces scattered all over the ground. In the distance, I could see a couple of flying objects that could only be Iron Man and Ultron.

"Get back in the jet," Bruce said. "Hide."

I scurried back inside and hid deep within the jet. I couldn't see anything from my hiding place, and I could just barely hear Bruce's voice, but I couldn't make out what he said. And then I heard a roar. I only knew of one thing that could have made that roar.

Leaving my hiding place behind, I went out to the main area of the jet just in time to see the Hulk running toward a nearby city.