The Tragedy of Living

04

INSIDE THE QUINJET

Steve was sitting down with a tablet, watching the footage of the Hulk's attack on the Army at Culver University. Elsie sat next to him, also watching the footage.

"We're about forty minutes out from base, sir," the pilot said.

Agent Coulson stood up from his seat and walked over to Steve and Elsie.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" Steve questioned.

"A lot of people were," Coulson replied. "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula." The Hulk roared with fury as he slammed a jeep apart.

"Didn't really go his way, did it?"

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, guy's like a Stephen Hawking." Steve looked confused. "He's like a smart person. I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially." Steve smiled at Coulson. "I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Steve looked down. He stood, closed his laptop and walked to the side with Coulson. "I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board."

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job."

"Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh... we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned?"

"With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned." Steve took in Coulson's sentiment.

Elsie nodded. "He's right. This world is, dare I say, too modern, and a touch of a simpler time would do some good."

UNDERGROUND LAB

Several soldiers under Loki's mind control ran around, preparing to infiltrate whatever Loki had planned. Loki sat, watching Selvig work with a CMS device. Loki meditated, until the scepter materialized him back into the throne room of the Other, fully armed in his horned helmet and armor.

The Other appeared from the steps and said, "The Chitauri grow restless."

"Let them go at themselves," Loki replied. "I will lead them into glorious battle."

"Battle? Against the meager might of Earth?"

"Glorious, not lengthy. If your force is as formidable as you claim."

"You question us? You question him? He who put the scepter in your hand, who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose when you were cast out, defeated?"

"I was a king! The rightful kind of Asgard! Betrayed!"

"Your ambition is little, born of childish need. We look beyond the Earth to greater worlds the Tesseract will unveil."

"You don't have the Tesseract yet." The Other ran over to attack him, but stopped as Loki pointed his scepter. "I don't threaten, but until I open the doors, until your force is mine to command, you are but words."

"You will have your war, Asgardian. If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can't find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain." The Other placed his hand on Loki's head and transported him back to Earth. Loki looked around, cautiously.

---

The Quinjet landed down a massive battleship known as the Helicarrier. It had two runways. One with direct access to a hangar at the rear was aligned along the spine of the vessel. Agent Coulson, Elsie and Steve walked down the ramp, meeting up with Natasha.

"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers and Agent Stark," Coulson said.

"Ma'am?" Steve greeted.

"Hi," Natasha replied, looking at Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace. Does he know there's another Stark aboard?"

"We'll find out. See you there," Coulson said as he walked away, leaving Steve and Elsie with Natasha, the three walking towards the railing of the Helicarrier.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" Steve and Elsie repeated.

"They're vintage, he's very proud."

Bruce was walking around the ship, trying to stay out of the way while people walked in his way.

"Dr. Banner," Steve and Elsie called.

The four walked up to each other and shook hands.

"Oh, yeah," Bruce said. "Hi. They told me you'd both be coming."

"Word is you can find the cube," Steve stated.

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word she and I care about."

Bruce took in the sentiment. "It must be strange for you, all of this."

Steve looked off to where a group of men in training were running, remembering his days in the Army. "Well, this is actually kind of familiar."

"Gentlemen, Stark, you might want to step inside in a minute," Natasha told them. "It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."

The Helicarrier started to shake as it prepared to take "sail". Others aboard strapped down planes and Quinjets in preparation.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked.

"Really?" Bruce commented. "They wanted me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?"

The three moved closer to the edge of the Helicarrier. Four huge lift fans mounted on the sides started to lift into the air as the ship took flight. Steve and Elsie watched in awe while Bruce just smiled.

"Oh, no. This is much worse," Bruce said.

The doors parted in the bridge of the ship. There was a flurry of activity. Dozens of agents sat in front of their viewscreens. Hill shouted instructions to leave. Fury was at the command chair.

"We're at lock, sir," Hill informed.

"Good," Fury replied. "Let's vanish."

The Helicarrier rose high into sky. Suddenly, the entire ship was covered in reflecting mirrors, which then camouflaged in the sky. Steve, Elsie and Bruce walked through the glorious, gleaming bridge.

"Gentlemen. Agent Stark," Fury greeted as Steve gave Fury ten bucks, referring to his earlier statement about never being surprised again. Fury walked over Bruce and extended his hand. Bruce reluctantly shook it. "Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely," Bruce replied. "So, uh... how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

"Where are you with that?" Fury turned to Coulson to explain, while Natasha eyed an image of Clint Barton on a computer screen.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet," Coulson informed. "Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not gonna find him in time," Natasha said.

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Bruce asked.

"How many are there?" Fury questioned.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please." Natasha nodded and walked off, leading Bruce down the hall.

"You're gonna love it, Doc," Natasha told him. "We got all the toys."