Chapter 32 – Captains (3)

(Shield Helicarrier – 300 Miles East of New York Harbour – May 3rd 2012)

"This is out of line, Director." Councilman Gideon Mallick's voice boomed through the screen as he glared down at Fury. "That program of yours was shut down. You are dealing with forces that you cannot control."

Fury shifted in discomfort not at the Councilman's words but rather at the fact that what remained of his arm was still in a sling. It was a minor miracle he was still alive let alone on his feet as he was currently being kept together by multiple stitches and bandages hidden under his clothes. His doctors had actually wanted to keep him under a general anaesthetic, but the SHIELD director had pushed them off and all but hijacked a helicopter to take him back to HQ.

"You ever been in a war, councilman? In a firefight?" Fury responded to Mallick's attack on his actions with his usual steady controlled tone that conveyed both professionalism and confidence. "Did you feel an overabundance of control?"

Mallick's face went tight for a moment as he grimaced while trying to keep his temper under control and not respond to Fury's jab at his lack of combat experience. As Mallick was preparing to have another attack on Fury's actions so far, Fury himself gave a quick glance at the other Council members. He saw that they seemed to be more passive observers rather than supporters of Mallick's position, but that still left him without allies.

"You're saying this 'Asgard' is declaring war on our planet?" Mallick's change of tactics almost threw Fury, as the councilman leaned into the camera and crossed his fingers sounding more diplomatic.

However, Fury did not get to his position by being easily thrown; he was prepared for Mallick to try and make Loki's actions sound like those of one state against another. According to SHIELD's own regulations, such a case would put the conflict on a whole other level, and under the World Security Council's authority to determine a response. One Fury knew would not be led by SHIELD, or at the very least not by Fury.

"Not Asgard. Loki." Fury responded wanting to keep control of the almost pointless conversation, as he knew what Mallick wanted a military-led response, not a SHIELD one.

"He can't be working alone. What about the other one with him?" Fury turned to see the one friend he had on the Council, Pamela Hawley, raise the one question he wanted to avoid. "Your own report says he has powers similar to the rogue entity Kal, and are they not brothers too?"

"Yes, but Kal is hardly a rogue entity Councilwoman." Fury let out a deep breath as he tried to control himself before he pushed on. "We are investigating that link and it's why I haven't called him in yet." Fury responded quickly, not wanting to seem out of control or to linger on the one point of the incident he had no real knowledge on.

"Yet?" Mallick pounced on Fury's word as if it had been a mouse and him a cat, he then entered one of his signature tirades. "You are not to call in Kal at all, we find this all highly suspicious. The alien arrives, refuses all requests to stand down, gains the people's trust and then suddenly his brother arrives and takes our only means of defending ourselves. I think we need to classify Kal as a hostile."

"Councilman you are now just twisting facts to suit your own predetermined theories, there is no evidence that Kal is hostile at all." Fury responded, losing his patience and any attempt to be civil or diplomatic. "Whilst I have called in an asset to aid us, I still believe we will need Kal if this goes sideways."

"Enough about these 'assets', we are clearly on our own. As of right now, we are ordering you to focus on Phase 2 immediately. It was designed for exactly this -" As Mallick spoke he jammed his finger into the table before him, the slight thudding noise puncturing each of his points as he spoke.

"Phase 2 isn't ready." Fury cut off Mallick with his calm calculated voice making Mallick's finger jabbing seem childish. "Our enemy is. We need a response team."

"Oh for the love -" Mallick brought his hand to his face as he whispered under his breath before he responded, slamming his fist into the table in front of him. "The Avengers Initiative was shut down, you should be focusing on -"

"This isn't about the Avengers. WE need a response Team." Fury again cut off Mallick trying to regain control of the situation with a calm calculated voice.

"We have seen your list." The quick remark was made snidely and came from the Chinese representative Councilman Chao Yen who was clearly not in favour of the program.

"You run the world's greatest covert security network, and you're going to leave the fate of the human race to a handful of freaks and aliens. Half of whom's loyalties are questionable at best." Mallick stated, leaning back in his chair and raising one of his hands up in disbelief, as if Fury had gone mad.

"I'm not leaving anything to anyone. We need a response team." Fury reiterated his point again, not seeing why they were arguing semantics, they needed to be able to respond quickly not wait for the lab techs to finish putting pieces together that may do nothing. "These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe with the right push they can be exactly what we need."

"You believe?" Pamela Hawley let out a pained sigh as looked down at Fury, a little disappointed that her old friend's whole argument was backed up solely by belief.

"War isn't won by sentiment, Director." Mallick returned full throttle seeing his chance to win his side of the argument. "As of right now you are ordered to desist with this 'response team' and focus on Phase 2. We are sending a technical advisor to you to ensure Phase 2 is ready."

Fury let out a small sigh. He was almost on his last nerve and was feeling that he was about to lose it when he felt his pocket vibrate. Fury slowly with his one remaining good hand removed the old fashioned pager from his pocket and saw the blue, red and gold symbol flash on the screen. The image immediately restored Fury's spirits and caused a smile to grace his face which in turn caused Councilman Mallick to frown.

"Director?" Mallick asked as he looked at the smiling Fury that had yet to respond to his demand.

"Your right Councilman Mallick." Fury returned his attention to the councilman with a smile still on his face. "Wars aren't won by sentiment, but by soldiers. Luckily, I know a couple of good ones."

(Quinjet – Approaching Shield Helicarrier)

Steve Rogers, Captain America, the embodiment of the American ideal, the world's first Super-Soldier was feeling massively underprepared. He was reading the briefing file that Coulson had handed to him when he boarded the Quinjet, and he was currently feeling that perhaps he should have stayed in the ice.

When he had gone under the world had been in the midst of another World War and he had encountered some bizarre things, but nothing like what he was reading: men turning into giant green monsters, flying metal war suits out of science fiction novels, and apparently space alien gods that made him look like that scrawny kid from Brooklyn again.

When Fury had arrived at his local gym, talking about the Tesseract, Norse extraterrestrials and an ultimate power source, then asked for his help in saving the world, Steve in truth had actual doubts about whether to get involved or not. Not because he was afraid but because in truth Steve was tired and wasn't sure he had it in him to fight anymore. He had fought one world evil only to lose everything and wake up in a strange world where no one he knew was around anymore and nothing looked familiar.

However, Steve had also known that he would answer the call, it was just who he was. Hydra, intergalactic conquerors, it didn't matter, when someone was in trouble he had to help. As he always did when doubt crept into his mind, Steve opened up the compass on his person and looked at the photo of Peggy.

"You are doing alright there Captain?" Coulson's voice broke Steve out of his musing as he quickly pocketed his compass and returned his attention to the strange pad that the agent had given him.

He had just watched a video on Kal, he had seen the man mentioned on the news and read the papers about him, but it was SHIELD's security footage that really showed what the god was capable of. The device in his hands then played a recorded video of a large green monster tearing through several tanks as if they were tissue paper while soldiers shot at it without effect. Steve's eye moved to the top left of the screen where an image of a man with glasses was placed with the name Dr Bruce Banner labelled underneath.

"Yes sir, doing fine. So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum used on me?" Steve asked as put the strange object down, wanting to try and get a clear picture of what he was walking into.

"A lot of people were, there's a whole wing of SHIELD dedicated to it." Coulson replied honestly as he moved across the plane to stand next to his idol. "You were the world's first superhero, well, human one I mean."

"Right, yeah, aliens," Steve said hesitantly, still not sure how to deal with that new aspect of the world, but for now he was just going with it in hopes it would just become normal.

"Yep, the world's gotten a little stranger since your day" Coulson admitted knowing full well how disconcerting the concept could be. He let out a deep breath and tried to straighten himself as Captain America looked up at him. "I gotta say, it's an honour to meet you, officially I mean. I've sort of met you. I mean, I watched you, while you were sleeping…. I mean I was present while you were unconscious, from the ice."

Steve gave the starstruck secret agent a polite smile as he stood up and moved over to the cockpit to look at where they were going, slightly amused by the SHIELD agent tripping over himself as he tried to talk to him. Though it may have sounded strange, it was actually the one thing Steve found familiar as he remembered regular soldiers, a few officers and most civilians acting like Coulson back in the day. Whilst he would have preferred everyone to act normal around him, he found it strangely comforting that at least one thing about the world was the same.

"You know it's really just a huge honour to have you onboard this…" Coulson trailed off realising he was sounding like an idiot as he moved over and stood next to Steve who was looking out at the ocean.

"I hope I'm the man for the job," Steve said more to himself than to Coulson who overheard Steve's comment.

"Oh, you are, absolutely," Coulson spoke with almost childlike admiration as he stared at Steve before he coughed continuing on. "We made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

"The uniform?" Steve asked in confusion as he looked over at Coulson "Aren't the stars and stripes a little… old-fashioned?"

"With everything that is happening, and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned."

Steve didn't reply as he merely looked out of the cockpit window in front of them. His mind was turning over Coulson's statement in his head and he couldn't argue that sometimes people just needed something familiar to get used to something weird. He was just surprised that out of whatever was about to happen, he was the most normal thing there was, and suddenly chuckled to himself.

He was also apparently old fashioned, if only Bucky was alive to hear that, he would never have let him live it down.

(Ancient Burial Tomb – Fjell Kal- 100 km Northeast of Lakstad)

Loki was seated with his sceptre before him as he watched the pathetic insects that he had enthralled work before him. He had been very impressed by what his new followers had achieved so far he had only really enthralled the Archer and the Doctor because they were close to his brothers and therefore useful pawns. However, both mortals had proved surprisingly resourceful, the archer had gathered a small army of mercenaries and foes of this SHIELD group that opposed him, and Doctor Selvig was making great progress with the Tesseract.

'Soon we will be ready, once the portal is open I will have my army and be able to rid myself of these annoyances' the god of mischief thought to himself as he cast a glance at the large looming figure in black armour that hovered off the floor.

Loki in truth had next to no idea who the man was, only that he was referred to as the General by his dark patron and was here to ensure that Loki kept up his end of the bargain. He was also pretty sure that the man was a Kryptonian, he moved like his younger adopted brother did and had similar powers. However, Loki was not certain as he had only one point of reference for what Kryptonians were like, so although he was sure he was right, he hesitated to act on the knowledge.

Loki also had a feeling that man did not serve his new dark patron like the others he had met, he wasn't quite sure but there was something in the man's demeanour. Something told Loki that the man was more like him than the being called the Other who grovelled at their Dark Patron's feet. Whoever this General was he had some sort of deal with the Mad Titan and Loki wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was, especially seeing as the man seemed to be interested in his brother Kal.

As Loki was observing him the man's head snapped towards him and he felt an instinctive desire to look away, like he was staring into the eyes of a dangerous animal ready to pounce. However, Loki maintained eye contact with the black-armoured general and the two seemed to be locked into a staring contest. The contest however ended when a lab tech that was helping Selvig with the Tesseract moved whilst looking at some notes and collided with the armoured figure.

There was a bright flash of red light and suddenly the lad tech was gone, replaced by a pile of ash by the General's feet. The whole room went quiet for a moment as everyone's heartbeats became slightly quicker as the Kryptonian lifted his head slightly and scanned the room, as if he was daring someone to challenge him. No one did of course, and the room soon resumed its normal level of activity albeit with a little more hurry.

Loki, instead of returning to gazing at the General, moved to observe his temporary abode, and although it was hardly fitting for a king of stature, it served its purposes well. He quickly glanced at the room that was adjacent to the one he was in, it was a massive burial chamber seemingly filled with gold, silver and jewels. His party had set up in the entrance of the tomb and taken over one of the smaller antechambers off to one side, although the wealth present was a pittance to what he had seen on Asgard it was still impressive for Midgard.

His eye lingered on the carven stone mausoleum in the centre of the burial chamber, an impressive structure. Immaculately sculpted in the shape of longship with a dragon head prow, Loki could see the writing transcribed on the edges

Here Beneath Carven Stone

In Midgard's Earthly Home

Where Dragon's Wealth Once Did Lay

Sleeps Eternal

A Shield Maiden Without Peer

Daughter Of a Jarl

Mother Of a King

And Lover Of The Sun

Loki scoffed at the pitiful attempt at glorifying the woman buried there, although Loki had hardly taken an interest in his youngest brother's mortal lover, he still could recall her. Well mostly he had forgotten her name, but remembered how, bar being a pretty face, she was mostly unremarkable and hardly worth the wealth someone had buried her with. Loki had only chosen her tomb as it sat on top of the Dragon's lair that he and his brothers had cleared out centuries ago, which still had a powerful concealment spell on it; several in fact, and very impressive ones as well, almost as if a powerful sorcerer had come along and deliberately reinforced them to keep the tomb undisturbed.

Whatever the case, it was the perfect place to hide from his brothers and their allies, also the wealth here had already been put to good use by his followers to purchase the needed equipment to get the second stage of his plan ready. As Loki was focusing on the tomb and his own sense of accomplishment he failed to notice that the black armoured General had come over to him and was now standing before him.

"It's time, they wish to speak to us." The raspy and gruff voice sounded from his helmet as he pointed to Loki's sceptre that was now glowing slightly.

If he had not seen the man move as he did and witnessed the strength he possessed Loki would have been certain the man was almost dead or at least gravely ill. The man's voice had an almost corpse-like quality to it that caused Loki to think the man was about to keel over dead every time he breathed, let alone talked.

However, before he could speak, he felt a tug at his mind and saw his sceptre glow more brightly. He did not fight the feeling that washed over him; instead he closed his eyes and found himself in the darker edges of the cosmos. In the area of space his dark patron called Sanctuary, Loki looked up and saw both his astral projection as well the General's standing before his patron's herald: the cowardly creature Loki knew only as the Other.

"The Chitauri grow restless" The Other's flanged echoing voice sounded out all around him despite the being standing less than two metres away.

"Let them gird themselves," Loki responded dismissively as he waved his hand. "I will lead them into glorious battle."

"Battle?" The Other questioned as if the god was speaking nonsense "Against the meagre might of Earth?"

"Glorious, not lengthy…" Loki remarked as he walked confidently in a circle around his dark patron's herald. ".. If your force is as formidable as you claim. And I would remind you that my brother is here."

"You dare to question us?! YOU QUESTION HIM?!" The Other snapped his head towards Loki, vile disgust radiating off of him. "Your brother is nothing to my master, the one that put the sceptre in your hand. Who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose when you were cast out and defeated?"

"I was a king!" Loki snapped, his own indignation rising at the perceived insult to his past triumphs. "The rightful King of Asgard, betrayed, and you will not speak to me like -AAH!"

Loki cried out in pain as suddenly the black armoured General had placed his hand on Loki's shoulder and squeezed. Although merely an astral projection, the trickster still felt as if his shoulder was being crushed and was quickly forced to his knees. The Other merely scoffed at Loki's pain as looked from the now kneeling prince to the armoured warrior.

"You see little prince, your ambition is limited and born of childish need. We look beyond the earth to greater worlds the Tesseract will unveil." The other spoke confidently as he turned his gaze to the cosmos above them speaking with almost childlike awe of the future he could see.

"You do not have the Tesseract yet, and your bargain with me is yet unfulfilled." The General spoke as he released Loki's shoulder causing him to slump over as the black armoured man strode over to the herald. "I care not about your pact with this…. Asgardian barbarian, he may have this speck of dirt, but I want what is owed to me."

"You have served us well General; you merely must have patience once we have the Tessera-" The other spoke again this time more cautiously as if the astral projection of general could actually harm him.

"ZOD SERVES NO ONE" The General declared, his voice booming however as soon as he took another breath he began coughing, bringing a hand up to where his mouth under the helmet would be. Although Loki couldn't see the man's face as he lifted the helmet briefly he would swear that he saw a faint green glow and black viscous blood on the man's hand. "Khoff!- Khak!- I will grant you the Tesseract but I want the Codex…. and Kal-El."

"And you shall have them as soon as my Master has his prize." The Other promised, bowing his head slightly to the now named Zod. "With it in hand, we can retrieve the Codex from Asgard, and send the forces you require to subdue both Earth and Kal-El."

"Excuse me, my brother Kal was never part of any deal." Loki let out a strained cough as he returned to his feet rubbing his aching shoulder, he thought for a moment that this Zod person had crushed it. "And until I open the door, until your force is mine to command, you are but words."

"Do not overstep your bounds Asgardian, you will have your war and your throne. If your brother stands against you then you should be glad for his removal." The Other moved forward over to Loki again coming uncomfortably close, until the being was whispering in his ears. "If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you."

Loki was on edge now as he felt an unfamiliar feeling wash over him, it was coldness ruining up his spine and an icy chill gripping his heart. He had only felt this way once before when Kal had once been in his arms as a small boy screaming as his ears bled… It was fear.

"You think you know pain?" The Other whispered into Loki's ear as Zod merely stood off to one side, his helmet revealing nothing to Loki. "He will make you long for something as sweet as… pain."

The Other then suddenly placed his hand on Loki's face and Loki felt himself pushed out of his astral projection by force, an incredibly painful event. As he groaned and blinked hard trying to force the last vestiges of pain from his head, he saw that Zod was still hovering before him, staring down at him. The black helmet revealed nothing and prevented him from seeing any of the General's features, but Loki knew he was being judged.

"I care not for your plans Asgardian" Zod spoke the last word as if it was an insult that left a bitter taste in his mouth. "I am here for the last son of El, he and I are destined to meet. YOU WILL stay out of my way."

Zod turned in the air and began floating back to the small alcove he had claimed, where he had been watching everyone from behind his black skull-like mask. However, he was stopped when Loki's voice sounded out from behind him, still seated on the floor.

"Interesting, you said nothing there about returning the Tesseract." Loki was playing a hunch he had, and knew it was risky but something told him that General was not being honest, but who was Zod lying to?

Loki just wasn't sure if he was lying to him and was intending to wage a betrayal before claiming the Tesseract for their dark patron in order to get what he wanted. Or, was Zod lying to his patron and in fact Zod had no intention of allowing someone else to claim the Infinity Stone?

"Would this be the rare chance where Loki, the God of Mischief and Lies, is the more honest one in a partnership?" Loki asked his old sly tone entering his voice as he stared at the back of the General head.

"We are not partners." Zod's voice was hoarse and irritated, however, Loki could also tell when he had hit the mark and that someone was covering themselves. Zod then continued moving off whispering just loud enough for to be heard. "Barbarian filth."

Loki said nothing more as he watched the General move away and go back to his position in the room observing everyone. Although he was not comfortable with the man, even less so that he seemed to be fixated on his little brother, Loki had a small subtle smile on his face. The reason was despite Zod being stronger than him, Loki knew what real the game was now, and what his so-called ally wanted.

Which meant that Loki now knew how to get rid of the one obstacle that had been irking him, Zod was fixated on Kal, so that is what Loki planned to give Zod. Just not in the way he was expecting.

(SHIELD Helicarrier – 300 Miles East of New York Harbour – May 3rd 2012)

As Steve stepped off the Quinjet, he was greeted by a scene that was more familiar than anything he had experienced in the 8 months since he had been frozen. The deck of the ship he was on was abuzz with activity; men moving in formation, mechanics working on planes, and deck officers yelling orders over the general whirlwind of noise. Despite most of the equipment appearing to Steve to be out of an H. G. Wells novel, the area had a distinctive military feel about it, so for him it felt good to be in a familiar setting again.

"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers." Agent Coulson's voice caused Steve to refocus on his immediate surroundings and take notice of a red-haired woman approaching him.

Steve suppressed the urge for his eyes to go wide and shift uncomfortably as she approached, trying to remain professional, A task which was not easy because the woman before him was perhaps one of if not the most attractive women Steve had ever met. Agent Romanoff had perfect curves and deep alluring blue eyes. However, Steve's attraction was helpfully mitigated by the fact that his senses were quietly telling him the woman in front of him was incredibly dangerous.

"Ma'am" Steve greeted the female agent, releasing a cough and a nod of his head, trying to be as polite as possible.

Nat just gave Steve a quick once up and down look then gave a friendly smile, clearly used to the effect she had on men but also finding it a little humorous too. However, despite her casual appearance Nat was assessing the man in front of her and was unsure what to make of him yet.

"Hi" She greeted him casually before turning her attention back to Coulson giving a more serious look. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace, and Fury wants you ready in case the 'big guy' shows up at any point."

"Understood, any word on the other one yet?" Coulson asked as he buttoned up his suit jacket preparing to head inside.

"Fury says she should be here shortly, but other than that nothing." Nat gave a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"Okay then, see you there." Coulson gave Nat a nod starting to head off towards the bridge turning to address Steve as he went. "Captain, agent Romanoff will take you from here."

Steve gave a nod of understanding as Coulson went off and turned back towards Romanoff who started to speak before he could ask any questions.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Nat spoke in a friendly tone as she started walking off, forcing Steve to move quickly to stay next to her. "I thought Coulson was going to swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" Steve asked slightly in disbelief, not sure if Nat was serious, as although a little spellbound the man Steve had met didn't seem the type to collect playing cards.

"Oh yes. They're vintage." Nat spoke with a light-hearted seriousness that told Steve she was being funny but also earnest. "He's very proud."

As they moved forward Steve suddenly saw where they were headed: Standing next to one of the jet fighters was a man that Steve could only describe as an intellectual. He recognised Doctor Banner from the briefing file he had been given, and the man could not have looked more out of place if he had tried. Dr Banner was moving constantly and fidgeting with his hands as he nervously looked around at all the armed vehicles and men with guns.

"Dr Banner!" Steve called out, putting on a kind face to give the good Doctor something to focus on that wasn't likely to make him more nervous.

"Oh, um, yeah. Hi." Dr Banner stated as he turned to face Steve and Natasha, his eyes going a little wide in surprise as he looked at Steve. "They told me you would be coming. Although I honestly thought that it was just a bad joke, no offence, but you were dead for like 70 years."

"No offence taken Doctor." Steve gave the scientist a smile used to the statement that had by now been made by more than a dozen people he had met. "Word is, you can find the Cube."

"Is that the only word on me?" Banner asked nervously as he wrung his hands together and looked around like a man being watched.

"The only word I care about," Steve stated honestly as he looked Banner straight in the eyes. Steve knew what the Doctor was but he had encountered many dangerous people in his life and never held that against any of them.

"It must be strange for you all this." Banner gave a slight cough as he gestured around at the platform that was filled with soldiers and mechanics, wanting to move the conversation away from him.

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar," Steve said earnestly as he gestured around at the men, a small yet sad smile on his face as he briefly reflected on what his life now was.

"Is that confirmed…." Nat's voice sounded from behind them causing the men to turn around and see she had her hand up to her ear speaking into a comm device. "Understood, sir. EVERYONE CLEAR THE LANDING STRIP NOW!"

Steve was taken aback by Romanoff's voice booming across the platform, her voice slipping back into its natural Russian accent as she shouted. However, neither he nor Bruce was unable to question her as her order was suddenly being repeated by every deck officer on hand, causing a flurry of activity as the runway was cleared. Steve was about to yell to ask what was going on when suddenly his head snapped upwards, his superior hearing picking up a faint sonic boom.

A bright light like a falling star came hurtling towards them at alarming speeds and Steve was about to move to push Dr Banner and Nat to one side in a vain effort to keep them safe. However, he stopped himself as he noticed that the falling star slowed down considerably and was arcing like a plane coming in for a steep landing. Steve was forced to lift up his arm to shield his eyes briefly as the falling star suddenly came speeding down the runway and halted before him, Nat and Bruce.

"Where's Fury?" The voice was commanding and slightly stern, it was also coming from the floating bright light hovering in front of him

As Steve lowered his hand, the falling star started to dim in front of him allowing him to actually see. He could see that the falling star was in fact a woman, a blonde woman wearing a strange blue, red and gold uniform. She was also glowing and floating just off the ground as well.

"Okay, I take it back this is not at all familiar," Steve stated honestly, reversing his previous opinion as he nodded his head slightly and blinked at the floating woman.

"He's inside, Captain. If you would please follow me, I'll take you there." Nat stepped forward acting like a glowing woman flying down from the sky was perfectly normal.

"Okay, but this better be good. I finally had a few days to myself and had a full spa day booked on Chandilar. You know how long it takes to get one of those?" The blonde woman stated in a slightly annoyed yet sarcastic tone as she released a heavy sigh and finally landed on her feet.

Nat gave her a small regretful smile and gestured with her hand towards the bridge. "Please Captain, I can assure you that it is." Nat started to move forward with the blonde Captain following her, however, she stopped suddenly, turning back to Steve and Bruce who were still staring. "Coming, boys?"

As Nat moved forward again not waiting for them to respond, Steve quickly straightened himself up and moved forward however he noticed quickly that Dr Banner had yet to move. Steve quickly gave Bruce a questioning look to see if the Doctor was still onboard.

Bruce merely let out a very deep sigh and shook his head, "Yeah, not a stressful environment at all. This 100% is going to be a cakewalk." He muttered to himself as he walked past Steve to catch up to the two women.

As the two men finally reached the doors that lead inside, they saw Nat and the blonde woman waiting for them. She gave both Steve and Bruce a playful smile that made both men wary, as she suddenly nodded back outside.

"You boys might want to hold on and get yourself stable before climbing any steps." She stated with a mischievous tone, as she leaned towards the wall gripping the handle rail there.

Steve and Bruce had no need to ask what Nat was talking about as no sooner had she finished than did the two men feel the deck beneath them lurch. Bruce went straight for the handle rail and clung on for dear life as the floor beneath him trembled. Whilst Steve just readjusted his feet and quickly restored his balance, impressing both Nat and the blonde woman, who gave him a confident smile.

Steve turned his head back to look out the door he had come through and could see what was causing the floor to tremble. What he had first assumed was a simple aircraft carrier was proving to be much more than that, as the sight of two massive turbine engines pushing the craft off of the water met his eyes.

"Yeah, okay, very not familiar anymore," Steve stated out loud as he finally decided just to go with everything that was happening and to stop looking for similarities to his own era, sufficiently convinced that the world had very much moved on.

"Great, I'm in a pressurised flying metal vessel soaring thousands of feet off the ground." Bruce groaned slightly, echoing Steve's thoughts as he stood up straight again as the Helicarrier started to level off as it ascended upwards. "This is totally not going to be stressful."

Nat led the trio quickly up to the main bridge of the vessel where they were greeted by a sea of activity with Fury standing in the centre of it on a raised platform. The whole room was also loud as Steve heard every operator present start shouting off checklists that were related to the ship's takeoff. He also spotted Maria Hill just off to Fury's right, hands on her hips as she directed people around the room.

"SHIELD Emergency Protocol 193.6 in effect. All systems are in the green and we are now level, sir." Hill's voice sounded out as she turned to Fury giving him a nod.

"Good." He stated, before taking in a sharp breath as he winced with pain his ribs not yet fully healed. Despite the pain he pushed on. "Let's vanish people."

"Understood. Engage retro-reflection panels." Agent Hill started giving more orders as Fury turned back to deal with his gathered guests.

"Agent Romanoff, Dr Banner," Fury addressed the two with a nod, as he then turned to the two other individuals in the room. "Captains, it's good that you could be here."

"Jesus Nick, what the hell happened?" Before anyone else could speak, Carol Danvers suddenly moved forward and gave Fury a worried look as she gestured to all of him.

Fury gave a slight groan as several of his agents that were close by gave each other looks, having never heard anyone refer to the Director by his first name. "It's complicated Carol and I will explain, but first let's get everyone briefed."

Carol looked at Fury with narrowed eyes as if she was assessing him, but eventually gave him a nod indicating that her question could wait. Fury gave her an appreciative nod as he moved over to Dr Banner gesturing for everyone to take a seat at the conference table located nearby.

"Doctor, thank you for coming." Fury stated with a smile and offered his one remaining hand.

"Thanks for asking nicely," Bruce stated in an almost resigned tone, releasing a heavy sigh as he shook Fury's hand warily. "So, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind." Fury spoke honestly as he brought his hand back to his side.

"Okay, then I better get started. Where are you with locating the Tesseract?" Bruce stated, happy that he now at least a promise to be let go.

Fury directed him over to a set of nearby consoles that had Coulson standing in front of them. Standing next to the man was a red-haired, young, and slightly freckled Agent.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly-accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops, if it's connected to a satellite it's eyes and ears for us." Coulson stated confidently with his arms crossed over his chest as he supervised his agents working.

"That still won't find them in time." Natasha interrupted moving to join in the discussion as she appeared next to Fury.

"You need to narrow your field." Bruce stated confidence in his voice as he was now in his element, "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked as he gestured to the surrounding monitors and consoles manned with agents ready to assist.

Bruce opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a very bright light suddenly engulfing the room for a moment. Fury turned and saw that Carol was standing behind them with annoyed look on her face as she lowered one of her hands.

"Nick, what the hell is going on?" Carrol asked bluntly, her face now a picture of annoyance and concern. "I said emergencies only, so you need to tell me what the hell is going on. And what has happened to the Tesseract?!"

The room fell silent for a moment, as Fury just let a very deep and troubled breath as he brought his one remaining hand up to rub his eyes. He had very much wanted to delay this conversation but it seemed he needed to broach the messed up situation a lot sooner than he wanted to.

"Okay." Fury said as he released a deep sigh, and looked Carol straight in the eye, thinking it was best to rip off the bandage than mess around anymore. "You are not going to like this."