Kalopsia ⊰ The Avengers

Snapshots

It takes two days for the arc reactor to be repaired. 

Once everything is back up and running, Tony goes back to the machine they used on Layla to try and figure out where things went wrong. Fiddling with the inner mechanics of the machine, Tony's eyes go wide when he pulls out the undamaged memory card which recorded what was in her head. 

Calling Bruce over, the two reviews what is on the memory card and what they find broaden their understanding of Layla Chase-Mason exponentially. 

"JARVIS, call the team."  

Almost instantly the team is gathered around the new glass table in the viewing room. Layla remains unconscious in the room below them. The same room she was in when they first brought her to the tower.

"So, it technically worked?" Clint asks, the first one to speak since they've entered the room.

Stark nods, "For two point five seconds."

"Two seconds?" Nat laughs, shaking her head.

"Two point five." Stark clarifies quickly.

Steve groans, "Just tell us what you wanted to say."

"As you wish Captain Spangles." Clicking away at his computer Tony pulls up a two-point five-second video. "We were able to record what was going on in her head. And- I'll let the video do the talking."

He presses start, multicolored static flashing on the screen for two point five seconds before the video stops. "Static?"

Bruce shakes his head, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, "We thought the same thing, but then Jarvis suggested we slow the video down. So we slowed it down by fifty percent. Now watch this."

He slows the video down fifty percent, pressing play again. They watch closely as the same video plays, colorful static appearing again only this time, something is different. Steve barley picks up on the faint outlines of things in the static. The objects changing and shifting too quickly for it to completely register in his mind.

"What are those?" Steve mutters, leaving forward in his seat.

"Just wait," Tony whispers, "We went through the video frame by frame. But it was still too fast to make anything out from the picture so we had to split each frame by point zero, zero, one second. And this is what we found."

Jarvis pulls up a slide show of over one thousand pictures onto the computer screen. "We went through each picture, only five percent seems to be from Earth. The others- we have no idea where they could possibly be. Except for this-"Bruce zooms in on a snapshot, a rainbow bridge evident over a flowing waterfall. He zooms in again, the distinct form of Thor now visible on the bridge, a tan man in golden armor walking beside him.

"Asgard."

Bruce nods in acknowledgment to Steve's statement, "Yes."

"So if only about five percent of what she sees in two points five seconds is from Earth; what else is going on in her head?"

"There's no way to tell at the moment," Bruce answers the red-haired assassin. "If we tried again we would completely destroy the arc reactor. We got lucky this time. But I'm afraid next time it would blow."

Suddenly the entire building shakes, a bright light blinding them all. Steve jumps from his seat, rushing to get his shield when he's stopped by the metal-clad member of the Avengers. "Thor." Steve sighs in relief, dropping his shield to the side again.

"Where is the girl?" He thunders, storming into the room. Tony points down into the room where Layla lays. Thor turns to look at the girl, his face remaining blank as he begins to raise his hammer.