HESTIA⇒S.ROGERS

1.3

{gif by theavengers}

Lilly and Natasha made their way to Loki's place. Or cell. "So, what's the plan?" "We need to get him to say what his actual purpose is," Natasha said and glanced at the door. "And we have to be careful. Especially you." "Me? Why?" "You and your tongue." Lilly stared at her in disbelief. "You know I love you. Well, not in Steve kinda way," Nat said and typed the code to unlock the door. "What?!" "We don't have the time for discussion now." With that she unlocked the door.

Both of them entered the room and saw Loki pacing around. When suddenly he stopped. He turned around and grinned at the sight. "There's not many people who can sneak up on me." "But you figured we'd come," Nat said, coldly. They knew each other for a long time, but it still frightened Lilly when she spoke like that. Like a lifeless body. The way she was before SHIELD.

"I want to know what you've done to Agent Barton." She looked at Lilly. That was her sign. As she was talking with Loki, Lilly went to a computer station, which grabbed Loki's attention. "Excuse me, but what is your friend doing?" Lilly sensed he was frightened. As if she has known him from long ago, knew his fears, family and even... intentions. They were bad.

"Before I worked for SHIELD,..." Nat tried to avert his attention. "I,... Well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for,... or on,.." she sensed that it was hard for her to talk about this stuff, but they needed to do that. Lilly pushed few buttons her and there, while she was telling him about her.

"And what are you now?" Loki asked her. "It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out." She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. "Can you?" Loki taunted her.
"Can you wipe out that much red? Dreykov's daughter, São Paolo, the hospital's fire. Barton told me everything," he said and stood up. "Stop that," Lilly said in order to protect her friend. Loki glanced at her and averted his attention back to Natasha. "Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red. And you think saving no more virtuous man than yourself will change anything?" He was walking closer to her, taunting her with every step he made. "Don't listen to him, Nat. He's trying to provoke you," Lilly told her, but Nat couldn't hear her. It was like she was hypnotised by his moves and words.

"This is a child at prayer. Pathetic!" Lilly stared at Natasha. She was standing on the other side of the glass, completely terrified. "You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code." Lilly walked up to Natasha and shook her by the arms. "Nat! Don't listen to him!" She pushed her away, not moving an eye away from his face. Loki looked at Lilly. He smiled at her, but not in a mean or creepy way. Like in a genuine way. "Nat,..." Lilly got up and went outside. What was all this? What is the feeling that got to her back there? No possible way she could feel any sympathy for him. Never. He is nothing but a jerk. Nothing.

Nat walked out of the room. "Oh my gosh, Nat are you ok?" She nodded. "We need to find Banner."

On their way to the lab, where Tony and Bruce were, they stumbled upon Steve. "What are you holding?" "Something Fury will have to answer for." With that he brushed past them. Both of them shrugged and walked after him.

When they arrived to the lab, Steve placed an item on a desk. "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the Cube to make weapons." Everyone turned their heads at Steve. Including Fury. "Sorry, computer was a little slow for me," Steve added and looked at a gun and Lilly. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract, this does not mean that we're making—" with that Steve turned back to Fury. "I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?" Tony interrupted. "The world hasn't changed a bit," Steve added.

Thor and Natasha joined the team. "You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." Bruce answered her. "Loki is manipulating you," "and you've been doing what exactly?" "Guys stop fighting," Lilly interjected. "Stay  out of this, Richards," Tony said and pulled her by the arm. "Don't touch her!" Steve said and pulled her to him. "She didn't do anything wrong," "Oh, Cap, maybe if you weren't frozen you'd know what a good person she is," Tony pointed out.

"I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Bruce asked, pointing at the tablet. Fury pointed at Thor. "Because of him." "Me?" "Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet, who had a grudge match that levelled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned." Thor immediately interjected, "my people want nothing but peace with your planet." "But you're not the only people out there, are you?"
For the first time, Lilly was listening so closely to what Fury said, that she forgot that Cap was still holding her. Only when she realised that, she felt that his hand moved from her arm to her waist. She cleared her throat, and a few seconds later, she saw Steve back away a little. "Sorry," he whispered. "It's nothing," Lilly said back and tried to forget about this moment.

"We had to come up with something," Fury said. "The nuclear deterrent. Because that always calms everything down." Fury turned to Tony. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark," he said and got cut off by Steve. "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep—" "W-Wait! Hold up! How is this about me now?" Stark asked everyone. "I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve mocked Tony. "So now that he's being mean to me you're going to be quiet? Pathetic,..." "I told you to leave her out of this," "stop being such a protective-always-good kinda guy." Lilly backed away as she saw everyone in the room yelling and fighting with each other.

"I mean what are we? A team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb," Bruce said. "You need to step away," Fury commanded him, as usual. "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked and placed his hand on Steve's shoulder, who pushed it away immediately. "You know damn well, why, so back off!" "I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony calmly said. This is where Steve lost its cool. "Yeah, bug man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?" He asked him, going round him on the other side. "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Natasha shrugged as did Lilly. Facts are facts. " I know guys with none of that, worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you fight for is yourself," Steve said. "Guys calm down, we don't have to fight now," Lilly interjected, but was ignored. "You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." "I think I would just cut the wire," Tony said back to him. Steve smiled and looked around the room. He spotted Lilly, shaking her head in disappointment. He looked back at Tony. "You know, you may not be a threat, but you should stop pretending you're being a hero." "A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of the bottle." With that Tony stepped closer to Steve. "Put on a suit, let's go a few rounds," Steve was teasing Tony, until they heard a laughter from Thor.

"You people are so petty,... and tiny,..." Lilly walked away. "I can't deal with those jackasses anymore," she sighed and leaned at the wall. She wanted some time for herself, to process everything that is going on. She felt the fire growing in her hands, but she had to tame it. It's been years since she got them, and yet, they still aren't doing what she wants them to. She took three deep breaths and decided to return back to the room. That was, until an explosion erupted and suddenly she saw everyone going places.

"Banner!"