The Tragedy of Living

09

Steve walked out of the lab. Still torn apart by the possibility, he walked away, towards the hull of the ship. Elsie followed, worried about his behavior.

BACK IN THE LAB

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony said. "Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice. And who was she? I've tried finding out who she is, but everything's been wiped."

"The guy's not wrong about Loki," Bruce replied. "He does have the jump on us. Maybe you'll be able to find something out."

"What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit. It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does. Yeah, maybe. But right now we have bigger things to figure out."

"And I'll read all about it."

"Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us."

"Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare."

"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart." He pointed at the mini-arc reactor in his chest. "This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege."

"But you can control it."

"Because I learned how."

"It's different." Bruce tried to read the computer screen, but Tony slid the data aside with his finger so the two could see face-to-face.

"Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

"So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"

Tony paused a beat. "I guess we'll find out."

Bruce and Tony got back to work at their respective computers.

"You might not like that," Bruce told him.

"You just might," Tony replied.

INT. HULL HANGAR, SECURE STORAGE 10-C ­- NIGHT

Steve, with all his might, slid the heavy iron door and stealthily walked in and Elsie followed. SECURE STORAGE 10-C was a large warehouse, filled with stacked metal crates. Steve and Elsie looked up, seeing another level. He and Elsie leapt up high and held onto the catwalk railing. They continued moving forward.

INT. VAN­ - NIGHT

Selvig and a few other soldiers were driving inside a long tunnel. With the CMS device inside, Selvig carefully picked up the small cylinder shape iridium with metal prongs and lightly placed it in a slot within the CMS. The CMS accepted it. Selvig looked at it with a devilish smile.

INT. BRIEFING ROOM ­- NIGHT

On a S.H.I.E.L.D. monitor, there was a photo and record of Jane Foster. Thor looked at her, remembering. With him was Agent Coulson.

"As soon as Loki took the doctor we moved Jane Foster," Coulson said. "We've got an excellent observatory in Tromso. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe."

"Thank you," Thor replied. "It's no accident Loki taking Erik Selvig; I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man."

"He talks about you a lot. You changed his life. You changed everything around here."

"They were better as they were. We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced, but we... we come here battling like Bilchsnipe."

"Like what?"