𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭

༻ ❁ ༺

A FEW HOURS LATER, after a somewhat lenient scolding from her father, Charlotte's encounter with the God of Mischief seemed to have been placed onto the back burner.

While the young girl seemed unaffected by their brief interaction, Tony could not push aside the slowly growing rage he felt for the Asgardian.

An alert from the tablet informed the Starks and Dr. Banner that JARVIS had finally broken past the layers of SHIELD'S firewalls. However, a ACCESS DENIED message flashed on the enormous screen as the trio perused the list of SHIELD's secure data.

"What are you going to do now?" Charlotte asked curiously.

Her dad smiled, waving his hand casually, "We try again. JARVIS needs a challenge."

"This is not good," Bruce mumbled, shaking his head, "If Fury finds out..."

Tony shrugged as he sat back on a worktable, tapping the surface and smiling at Charlotte, who eagerly accepted his invitation to sit next to him. Bruce was amused by her preference for sitting in places other than chairs.

Fury came into the lab a few minutes later as the two geniuses conversed, Charlotte adding her own remarks. "What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" he demanded accusingly, causing Charlotte to frown and cease swinging her legs.

"Uh-oh," she mumbled, tucking her elbows into her sides as if she was trying to curl into herself.

"Kind of been wondering the same thing about you," her father answered by crossing one leg in front of him, resting his hands on the ankle, while the other hung off the edge of the table. He was as unconcerned as he could possibly be.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract," Fury said, having come to stand before the billionaire. Charlotte could not help but feel intimidated by the directors presence and stature.

"We are," Bruce quickly retorted as Tony idly tapped his phone against his knee with a smirk, "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit-" he pointed to one of the monitors behind the Director, who turned to observe with hands on his hips, "we'll have the location within half a mile." On one side of the screen, a globe model spun while the Tesseract and its gamma signatures were displayed on the other. The search process was at forty six percent, according to the notice at the centre.

"Yeah, then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss," Tony reassured before his attention was called to the monitor in front of him when it beeped. A file had been highlighted in red, prompting him to ask, "What is 'Phase Two'?"

Charlotte was startled when she heard a loud clank of several weaponry being placed upon a table by Steve as he entered the lab.

"'Phase Two' is S.H.I.E.L.D uses the Cube to make weapons," he proclaimed to Bruce's slight gaping towards Fury and Charlotte's eyes widening with shock, she suddenly felt very scared, "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Definitely, not good," the ten-year-old stated, looking at Fury, a nervous expression on her face.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract," Fury quickly justified, his hand raised in placation as he approached the soldier, "This does not mean that we-"

"I'm sorry Nick," Tony stood up and swiveled the screen around to show the schematics he had accessed for the creation of the weaponry, "What were you lying about?"

"I was wrong, Director - the world hasn't changed a bit," Steve commented disapprovingly.

Things were in danger of getting out of hand; Charlotte remained sitting on the desktop and brought her knees to her chest. Suddenly, Thor and Natasha showed up and at their wary entrance. Bruce instantly turned to the agent, "Did you know about this?" he asked her.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" she suggested firmly, glancing at Charlotte quickly to make her point.

"Ah ah, I was in Kolkata, I was pretty well removed," Bruce retorted.

"Loki is manipulation you," she insisted as she stepped closer.

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" he sneered.

Charlotte looked at the two with a pained expression on her face, for if Loki was controlling Dr. Banner, how would Natasha know if he wasn't also manipulating her?

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha stated smartly.

"Listen, I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy," Bruce responded. He stepped over to the monitor and brought it closer by its corner, demonstrating with his glasses the Cube's intended usage, "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of him," Fury answered as he pointed at the God of Thunder.

Thor furrowed his brows in confusion as he indicated to himself for clarification, "Me?"

As she stared at her father, he shifted, seeming genuinely puzzled. Hopping down from the tabletop, she decided to stay next to him. Tony slipped his arm behind her neck and put his palm on her shoulder, rubbing it in a soothing manner.

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town," Fury elaborated as Bruce released the screen and cast his eyes to Thor in amazement, "We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

Charlotte gaped at Thor, and the Norse God took notice of her terrified look, "My people want nothing but peace with your planet!" he proclaimed at everyone - but directing another friendly smile towards the child.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Nick argued, "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, who can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve inserted.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies," Thor asserted, "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war!"

"War?" Charlotte mouthed with a fearful expression.

"A higher form?" Steve prompted.

"You forced our hand," Fury defended, "We had to come up with something-"

"A nuclear deterrent," While his free hand was in his pocket, the other curled around Charlotte and drew her closer, "'Cause that always calms everything down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury snapped.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons Stark would be neck-deep in it," Steve commented, walking behind Fury.

"Wait-hold on, how is this about me?" Tony stated as he unwrapped his arm around his daughter, approaching the Captain. Charlotte whined but remained on the sidelines.

"Isn't everything?" Steve retorted.

"Stop it..." the little girl warned, her voice raising slightly as she looked between the two men. She was wary that their argument could escalate.

"I'm sorry, but is it really a good idea to have an eight year old running around? There's a mythological madman a few metered down the hall!" Steve asked, passing a worried glance to Charlotte. She was sitting on the table, next to Bruce, her legs swung absently from the table ledge.

"I'm ten." She scowled, picking a blueberry and popping it in her mouth. "And a half."

"Don't forget the half, Cap," Tony quipped, leaning over the desk and took a berry from the tupawere, mirroring his daughter's actions. "It's very important."

"A child, nonetheless." Steve added, rolling his eyes at the pair.

Tony waved his hand, dismissing Steve's concerns. "She's fine." Steve looked from Charlotte to Tony, and back again. The child gave a somewhat smug smile and stuck her tongue out at the captain.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor remarked, nodding his head towards Charlotte, clearly amused by her antics. To Thor, she embodied the same energy and personality he once held, when he was free to run wild as a young prince.

"Excuse me, do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury objected as he whirled to face the God.

"You treat your champions with such mistrust-"

"They're not my champions!"

"Are you boys really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats," Natasha suddenly interjected, shifting her gaze towards Charlotte momentarily.

"What is it about me that bothers you so much? I'm curious," Tony egged the Captain in the background.

"And Captain America's on threat watch?" Bruce asked skeptically.

"We all are," Natasha replied to Bruce.

"Even the young Lady Stark?" Thor interjected, his brows pinched and with a confused glance, he turned his focus onto Charlotte. "She is a child. What threat could she possible pose?"

The girl met his gaze for a brief second before quickly scuttling to her father's side. Her fingers wrapped around the sleeve of his shirt as she lightly tugged on his arm. Charlotte suddenly felt sick. She wanted to tuck herself as far away from the situation as she could, however, she remained half hidden behind her father, keeping to the sidelines of the arguing.

A low hum throbbed in her right ear, and when she turned to look to her side, she spotted the scepter blazing azure as the voices clashed violently.

"Stop!" she pleaded, panic rising in her voice, but her smaller voice went unheard.

"Wait, you're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?" her dad taunted.

"Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack" Steve snapped.

"Threat - verbal threat! I feel threatened!" Tony mockingly called.

"Show some respect," Steve stated.

"Respect what?"

"If I need to put you down, I will," Thor muttered towards the Director, "but I will not do it in front of the child."

Charlotte became anxious as she observed the long weapon resting on one of the worktables. The scepter's length seemed to reach out and grasp the arguing individuals, its ethereal blue glow inflaming the tense atmosphere.

"Dad-" she tried.

"Not now, Charlie," her dad quickly dismissed, eyes on Steve.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor directed towards Fury.

"That's his M.O., isn't it?" Bruce remarked, "I mean, what are we - a team? No, no no - we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're-We're a time bomb," he stated darkly.

"You need to step away," Fury ordered.

Charlotte didn't know where to look, she mainly focused on her dad though.The atmosphere in the room grew denser and weighted with each passing second.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked with an open hand, laying it on Steve's shoulder.

"Your daughter is right here and you want Dr. Banner to 'let off steam'? - Back off," Steve yelled, backhanding Tony's outstretched arm away.

"Stop!" Charlotte squeaked, her voice barely audible to the group of squabbling adults.

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony's blind rage for the golden boy was clouding his better judgment. Not even his daughter could stop the resentment he held for Steve Rogers in that moment - mainly for the years of issues that Howard Stark caused during his childhood.

"Yeah," Steve smirked in taunt of the concept, circling the other, "Big man in a suit or armor," he halted on his other side, "Take that off, what are you?" he asked sharply at Tony, who was staring forward with a tensed jaw.

"Genius, billionaire, father, philanthropist," Tony answered promptly and proudly.

Charlotte locked her gaze on him, while Natasha pulled her head back and raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement of the points expressed.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you," Steve said as Tony's eyes pinched at the corner of the soldier's declarations, "And I've seen the footage - the only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play - to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you-"

"Hey!" Charlotte was now glaring at Steve, her own eyes burned into his side profile. "How dare you! You have no right to say that!" Although, in her mind she may have been shouting, her voice remained swamped by the general animosity of the room.

Steve had heard the young redheads bold outburst and turned to speak softly to her, but at that moment he was once again interrupted.

"I think I would just cut the wire," Tony said tersely, his response easily cutting over his daughters.

"Always a way out," Steve remarked with a mocking grin, casting his eyes to meet Charlotte's for a second, he was surprised to see her glaring at him hatefully - there was a distinct glint in her eye that she shared with Tony; it was also a one that she shared with her grandfather. "You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you?" Tony questioned incredulously as he stepped closer, "You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers - everything special about you came out of a bottle."

"Put on the suit, let's go for a few rounds." Steve dared Tony, whose teeth were grit and eyes were wide.

"Stop it!" Charlotte yelled as she forced Steve away from her father; her strength didn't allow her to move him very far, but he did back away in shock, "Everyone just stop - just stop shouting; stop fighting!"

She kept yelling, angry tears falling from her eyes. Charlotte didn't know what to say; her small body was filled with anger at the same time, and all she could do was hurl random obscenities at the soldier, attempting to hurt him.

Tony instantly grabbed Charlotte's shoulders and with a swift tug, pulled her back and away from Steve; all the captain could do was watch the young girl's fuming expression with wide eyes.

"Charlie, calm down. It's okay." Tony whispered gently, running a comforting hand up and down her arm. Normally, she would have found his calm words and voice soothing, but at that moment in time, she was so angry and conflicted that she had to make a conscious effort to control and steady her own breathing.

Everyone was watching them, and they seemed to be calming down now that they recognized Charlotte had been watching everything. Bruce and Fury were visibly uncomfortable, and Natasha pitied for her.

What was Tony thinking by bringing Charlotte here?

"You people are so petty and tiny," Thor sighed, slightly saddened that the young girl was now crying.

Steve turned his attention to the other people in the area, while Tony continued to console his daughter, who took calming breaths before they were able to separate - Tony examined her face as he wiped away her tears. "I'm sorry honey. You shouldn't have seen me acting like that."

Steve was intrigued by their interactions. Granted, in the short amount of time that he had known Tony, he had judged him to be self-centered, arrogant and smug; however, in that moment all he could see was a concerned father trying to calm his daughter.

"Yeah, this is a team," Bruce remarked, averting his eyes from the father-daughter scene; Charlotte sniffled quietly as Tony pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before standing fully upright once again.

At the same time, Fury ordered, "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-"

"Where? You rented my room," the scientist argued in aggravation.

"The cell was just in case -" Fury attempted to justify before Bruce interrupted.

"-In case you needed to kill me - but you can't. I know, I tried."

At his blurted admission, the tension in the lab dissipated instantly, with all eyes locked on Bruce - even Charlotte seemed to come to a halt as she covered her mouth. He averted his eyes from the stares and uncomfortably explained, arms crossed over his chest, "I got low, I didn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it out," he mostly avoided looking at Charlotte, he felt terrible for having revealed his traumatic past in front of a child.

"So I moved on, I focused on helping others - I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show-" his shoulder shifted as he moved back a step. Charlotte could sense a shift in the atmosphere, however, it felt noticeably different this time. She was perplexed for a minute until she noticed Thor balancing his stance, his expression revealing his internal battle preparedness. "-and put everyone here at risk," Bruce shifted forward again as he growled, "You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"

Fury's eyes widened as he placed his own on the handgun strapped to his thigh, carefully pulling the fastening forward to allow him to draw the weapon while Natasha prepared to draw her own firearm at his side.

"Charlie," Tony's voice was low and stern. "Come over here, honey."

Charlotte saw something move in her peripheral, and turning to her left, her eyes widened slightly. Immediately, she hopped forward, away from the table and grabbed her father's outstretched hand, allowing him to swiftly tug her behind him. Steve also took a sidestep in the billionaire's direction, feeling a strong sense to shield the girl from what may happen.

"Dr. Banner," Steve called, and Bruce's wild attention drew onto him, "Put down the scepter."

Bruce stiffened before looking down at his left hand, scanning the long weapon for the time he had grabbed it from its stand on the table behind him. The gemstone shone brightly. A trilling sound emitted from the display across the room stopped his mystification, the portrayal enlarging the image of the world to a particular place, an alarm flashing to signal - ENERGY SIGNATURE MATCH: 95%.

As the occupants of the room all turned towards the sound, Tony stood up but still held Charlotte behind his back in a protective manner. Natasha swiftly returned her gaze onto Bruce as he returned the scepter to the surface of the worktable.

"Sorry kids," Bruce started, giving Charlotte an apologetic smile; she gave him a curious look back, "You don't get to see my party trick after all," he walked the length of the lab to analyze the screen.

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I could get there faster," Tony inserted as Thor insisted, "The Tesseract belongs on Asgard - no human is a match for it."

"You're not going alone," As Tony walked away, Steve grabbed the man's upper arm, while the other seized Charlotte's hand; there was no way he was leaving her here.

"You gonna stop me?" her dad retorted, shrugging it off.

Steve was ready to criticize him again when he noticed Charlotte's expression on her face, which told him to stop and back away with troubled eyes. The blonde frowned - why was Tony so irritable?

Fury stood there watching the near-confrontation, noting how the small girl managed to keep things from getting out of hand.

"I don't wanna teach my kid that's it's okay to hit senior citizens," Tony quipped, half-serious.

Steve squinted his eyes, "Put on the suit."

As the alert percentage grew from ninety-eight to ninety-nine, and finally a hundred percent, Bruce removed his glasses and inspected the screen in front of him, the area of the Cube's gamma signature that was detected highlighted in red in one of the lower corners.

"Oh my God" he muttered at the location displayed.

A thunderous explosion reverberated beneath them, rocking the lab, but before anyone could react, flames raced through the engine alongside and up through the centre of the room where they were gathered. Natasha and Bruce flung through the glass separating the upper area from the space below.

The force of the blast caused Charlotte to momentarily slip from her father's grasp. For a split second, she was airborne, her small frame lifted from the ground.

She briefly lost her grip on her fathers hand, but Steve, however, was quick to react and after noticing that the girl was no longer beside him, he reached for her. Turning his back to the direction of the explosion, he enveloped his broad arms around her and swiftly tucked her into his chest, creating a barrier between them and the heat; his back took the brunt of the impact.

Plumes of smoke started to haze, spreading from the hole they had been blasted from inside as well. Steve looked at Charlotte with worry, and when the ten-year-old looked back at him, wide-eyed, but safe.

"Charlie?" Tony spluttered, a deep cough emitted from his throat as he chocked on the settling dust. "Charlie?!"

"I've got her!" Steve called back calmly, reassuring the panicked father. "She's alright!"

From where they lay on the floor, the two men stared at each other in shock. Sure, they were relieved that she was okay, but what had transpired had an impact on them. The three of them scrambled to their feet and Steve helped Charlotte to her feet, firmly grasping onto her tiny wrists.

"Put on the suit," Steve muttered ordered urgently as he reached for Tony's arm. They stood but stumbled, before he regained his footing and grabbed Tony by the midsection as he slumped, bewildered, then Charlotte by the arm with his free hand - he was juggling Starks, assisting them out of the room.

"Dad! What about Natasha and Dr. Banner?" Charlotte cried as they were in the corridor. She glanced back over her shoulder into the room that had since become completely clouded with smoke. "Where's Thor?!"

"Honey, please, I can't-" Tony spluttered and jumbled response as he held her by her shoulders, keeping her firmly in front of her. He was struggling to string a sentence together, his sole focus right now, was on his daughter, and his daughter alone.

"Stark," Steve turned Tony from Charlotte and gave him a serious stare. "I need you to pull yourself together. I know you're worried for your daughter's safety, but right now you need to focus. You need to suit up before anything worse happens. Do you understand that?" he stated firmly, letting go of Tony after his declaration.

"Dad, just go!" Charlotte grabbed his arm and removed it from her shoulders. With small grunts, she pressed her slight open palms against her dad's stomach and began to push him backwards; he barely moved an inch. "I'll be fine! I can hide!"

"No, I can't leave you alone!" Tony argued back, his gaze cast down, searching Charlotte's face for any flicker of fear; however, he saw none - instead he saw mild panic, but mainly determination mixed with concern.

"Stark, you have to trust her," Steve said, enlisting his full confidence in the small child. "Without us, this thing will go down."

"You're asking me to leave my kid alone?!"

"I'm telling you that if we don't get this aircraft moving again, we are all going to die!"

Charlotte squeezed her eyes closed. She was tried of the yelling, and tired of feeling useless, "Just go!" and without waiting for a protest or response, she quickly turned on her heels and tore away, swiftly darting in the opposite direction, away from them.

"Charlie!" Tony yelled.

"Be careful!" Steve called out.

Charlotte ran as fast as she her legs would carry her, she was small and good at hiding. All she had to do was find an empty room, hide there and stay safe until her dad and Steve found a way to fix the helicarrier.

Meanwhile, Tony was going to pursue her when he received word over his earpiece that the Helicarrier was losing its engines, and that if they lost another, they would no longer be able to remain in the air.

"Stark, you copy that?" Fury relayed.

Tony was shaking, his eyes stared hauntedly at the corridor in which his daughter had vanished down. He couldn't take his eyes off her as she darted away, oblivious to his call. What was she thinking when she did that? There were no Hammer drones after her, and this wasn't Obadiah - it was Norse Gods and sorcery. This was unlike any other situation they had ever encountered.

Tony gulped dryly, wanting to chase her down. But now he had to repair the engines so he could have a flying Helicarrier to find Charlotte safe. Or at least safe enough that he could then ground her for the rest of her life.

Also, Pepper would surely murder him.

"I'm on it," he finally responded, before turning to run towards the opposite side with Steve.

The blonde was worried about the girl, but he couldn't help to nod at her bravery. Right now he decided to keep Tony focused on the mission.

"Attention. Stark's daughter is alone somewhere on the aircraft. If you see her, make sure that she is safe," he declared at his own earpiece, dropping out the alert.

Tony gave Steve a thankful nod.

Meanwhile, Charlotte was running as fast as she could, passing by many running agents and avoiding bumping into them numerous times. She came to a halt when she recognised the corridor, opting to take the way that led to the bridge, where the danger would undoubtedly be.

She ran to the opposite side, slowed down, and tried to calm her breathing when it was practically silent after leaving the cluster of agents rushing around behind her. She had no idea where she was, but all the commotion was happening behind her.

Charlotte was in an area that seemed safe because of how quiet it was, but strangely she didn't feel safe - not in the slightest.

She shrieked when the Helicarrier shook, and she lost her footing when her body was thrown into the wall by the action. Charlotte's stomach dropped as she recovered. Something didn't feel quite right to her.

She decided to sit down in the quiet corridor and just try to calm down. She remained their, silent for a few moments with her eyes closed; she could not say for definite how much time had passed. Around her, the walls tremored and the floors vibrated with numerous smaller explosions, the sound of metal grating and straining swamped her ears - it was all becoming too overwhelming.

"Charlotte?!"

The ten-year-old opened her eyes, revealing her blue irises, "D-Dad?" rising quickly, she used to wall to stand up.

"Charlotte?" the voice called again, urgently.

She dashed towards the door, desperate to see her father. She wasn't worried about him scolding her or punishing her for running; all she wanted to know was if he was safe.

"Dad!" she yelled, hoping that he heard her. When she heard footsteps approaching her from behind, she turned around and smiled broadly when she saw her father emerge from the corner of a corridor, "Dad, you're okay!"

Tony looked at his daughter, and relief crossed his expression, "Charlotte!" he sighed as he made his way towards her, she met him halfway and the two hugged.

"Dad! What's happening?" she quickly said, tearing up a little bit.

"It's okay, dear," Tony shushed her gently, "It's all right. Everything is fine now, I've got you."

Charlotte sniffed as Tony grabbed her hand to suddenly start leading her somewhere, "Where are we going, dad? Is everyone okay?" she asked at once, trying to keep up with him.

Why was he walking so fast?

"Loki has escaped," He said quickly, yet vaguely. "We need to get you somewhere safe."

Charlotte mumbled a brief protest, but then she noticed they weren't going back towards the bridge, in fact, she realized she was being taken away to the other side of the ship, "Where are we going? Are you taking me home?"

In truth, Loki was surprised and somewhat disappointed that the young genius had not caught on to his deception. She was a child after all, he thought; so naive.

"Yes, dear," Tony smirked, the icy blue spark in his eyes submerged his usual dark brown. "I'm taking you home."

༻ ❁ ༺

author's note

okay, i feel like we've gotten about 95% of the film's dialogue into this chapter. my god it was wordy.

there is only about five chapters left of the avengers section, so things will be picking up in the next chapter!