Heroes Assemble

Chapter 7: Aboard the Helicarrier

The jet got to the Helicarrier. Black Widow had already communicated with Fury about what happened. A battalion of eight soldiers were there. Thor handed Loki over to them. Fury was there too.

"Miss Tennyson." Fury acknowledged her presence with a polite nod.

"Director Fury." said Molly returning the nod.

"Come on in then." Fury invited. "I only assume you and the Professor have found something else out."

"You'd assume correctly, Director." complemented Molly.

They headed in. Molly heard the despair, albeit weakly, in Loki's head. She bit her lip again. She really needed to help him. She knew that The Other was going to try and mentally trigger the Hulk, but she knew that was impossible. She joined the others in the main room.

Natasha sat in a chair on the left, on the far right Steve sat in another chair. Molly leaned against the wall between them. Tony was running maintenance on his suit so he wasn't there yet. Thor was across from Molly, but had his back to them. Bruce came in from the lab S.H.I.E.L.D setup for him. He and Molly saw each other. They smiled as they came together for a hug.

"We missed you, you know." Molly told him.

"I know. I'm sorry that I left the way that I did.

"Don't worry about that." Molly pulled away, but keeping her hands on his shoulders, "We all understand why you left. We were just worried."

"I'll be coming back, if that's okay."

"You're more than welcome to do so. It's always been open to you."

Bruce let a honest full on smile come to his face at that. He had no idea they'd be that accepting of him. He stayed beside Molly as they watched Loki being locked up in a large steel and glass cell, through a security camera.

Molly kept hearing his panicked, weak cries. Bruce noticed that she was hearing something mentally and it was upsetting her; he's seen it at the Institute with both her and the Professor. He grabbed her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked softly.

"I'll tell you later." Molly replied softly as well.

Bruce nodded in understanding. It was probably a long story. He squeezed her shoulder and didn't remove his hand.

"In case it's unclear." Fury's voice was saying over the camera, "If you scratch the glass."

Fury did something to a panel. A hatch beneath the cage opened. Air rushed into the room. Loki looked down. Molly heard his weak voice whimpered softly, it sounded scared. Bruce squeezed her shoulder.

"It's over thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap." Fury closed the hatch and gestured to the cage then to the panel. "Ant, boot."

Loki just laughed as he backed up from the front of the cage. He made a broad gesture with his hands.

"It's an impressive cage." He commented."Not meant, I think, for me."

"It was meant for something a lot stronger than you." Fury stated.

"Oh, so I've heard." Loki said, looking toward the camera. "A mindless beast, makes play he's still man."

Molly now gripped Bruce's shoulder.

"It's just leftover from those times." She assured him, she's read the information twice over. They had no intention of using it on Bruce, or the Hulk.

Bruce smiled, believing her. He trusted Molly.

"How desperate are you." asked Loki, over the camera. "That you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"