𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄. | ❛ Ticking Time Bomb. ❜

STEVE WALKED OUT OF THE LAB, feeling torn apart by the possibility of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s work. After having an intense discussion with Tony and Bruce about the cube and the intelligence organization, he couldn't help but feel suspicious. Tony was right. Why did Fury call them now and not before? What could he be not telling them? So many thoughts ran through his mind as he walked towards the hull of the ship. He needed to figure out what they were hiding.

But before he could go any further, his body collided with the ex-soldier causing her to lose balance. Steve grabbed her waist to keep her from falling and quickly released his hands, realizing what he just did. He stepped back and gave her a shy smile, "I'm sorry about that."

Jamie could feel his warm touch, but it quickly disappeared as it appeared. She looked up and locked eyes with him, his blue eyes sheepishly staring into hers as he stepped back. She smiled and brushed it off with a hand gesture, "It's alright. What's the sudden rush, Captain?"

Steve chuckled at the name and gave her a polite smile, "Steve is just fine, ma'am." he told her, making her raise an eyebrow. "Right, then you should stop calling me ma'am then," she smirked as they both walked down dozens of hallways.

A deep chuckle escaped from his lips and nodded, "Fair enough."

Jamie hummed and was about to turn to her left when his voice stopped her, "You've been with S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades. Did you ever find anything unusual with the organization?" Steve asked her, watching her halt in her steps and slowly turning around to meet his solemn expression.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and sighed, "I've been trying to find something over the years, but I haven't been successful," Jamie replied, causing him to inch closer to the female. "Why not? Didn't you help create the organization?"

Jamie nodded, "I did, but only some part of it. I wasn't around that much, so I didn't know what they really stood for, and I only followed orders. All I know is that it's a secret organization that participates in maintaining global security, which doesn't make sense to me." she explained, her eyebrows furrowed.

Steve nodded at her answer and looked around his surroundings before looking back at her, "I'm gonna get the bottom of it." he said, his voice getting serious. He walked forward, next with her in toe as they walked through the Helicarrier.

The agents and workers became less when they reached a large iron door. The duo stopped and looked at each other and back at the door. She narrowed her eyes at the door and saw the title engraved on the door, 'SECURE STORAGE 10-C', which made her scoff.

Steve inched closer to the door and slid the heavy door with all his might. The door opened and he looked back at her with a small grin before entering the room. Jamie glanced at her shoulder before following him inside. The large warehouse was filled with dozens of metal crates stacked next to each other.

"Do you think we'll find something?" Jamie asked in a small voice.

Steve glanced at her through his shoulder and nodded, "We're about to find out." he replied and looked up, seeing another level. He leaped up and held onto the railing. Jamie did the same and the pair moved forward.

Jamie looked at the crates with a look of disbelief. "You know, 50 years of working for S.H.I.E.L.D, I've never seen anything like this," she admitted, bringing her hand up to touch one of the crates.

"Me and you both," Steve mumbled as he looked over the crates. His eyes caught one of them and started to approach it. He opened the lid and his eyes widened with shock. "I think you might wanna see this, Jamie?"

Jamie looked up and saw that Steve was almost at the end of the hall. She frowned and made her way towards him. When she approached the crate Steve told her to, she paused and tilted her head to the side. A black helmet was facing them along with a few weapons. Once she saw the logo, her heart dropped.

The ex-soldier was left speechless and could only let out a word, "Hydra."

▹

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Fury walked in surprised to see Tony and Bruce working on the scepter.

"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony jeered, sitting on top of a counter and looking at Fury with a look.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce explained to Fury, making Tony nod his head, "Yeah, and you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss."

Suddenly his monitor showed a collection of secret files. "What is Phase 2?" Tony questioned, making Fury sigh and looked down at his shoes. Before he could let out a word, a rifle was dropped on the table, making the trio look up to see Steve and Jamie looking pissed.

Jamie made eye contact with Fury and her glare hardened. "Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons." She explained, her stoic expression piercing through him.

Steve turned his head to the billionaire, "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

"We gathered everything related to the Tesseract." he tried to explain whilst looking at Jamie, a tint of guilt clouding into his eyes. "This does not mean that we're-"

"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony moved the computer screen towards Fury, showing the files of the weapons. "What were you lying?"

"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve chided, anger lacing in his tone. At that moment, Thor and Natasha entered the lab. The Russian assassin kept her eyes on Bruce, which made him look at her with a glare.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked her.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" Natasha ignored his question as she walked closer.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." Bruce told her, causing her to inch closer to the man. "Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?" Bruce scolded, giving her a look.

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

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Bruce inquired as he looked through the screen.

"Because of him." Fury replied, pointing at Thor.

Thor looked stunned, "Me?"

Jamie raised her eyebrows and looked at Fury with an attentive look. "Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

Thor shook his head, "My people want nothing but peace with your planet." he corrected.

Fury inched closer to the Asgardian, "But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled." he explained, his eyes darting over the team.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Jamie asked him, frowning.

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

"A higher form?" Steve questioned, giving the god a confused look.

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Fury said.

"Nuclear deterrent. Because that always calms everything right down." Tony interjected.

Fury turned around to meet his face, "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" he hinted, giving him a look.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep."

Tony's head whirled towards the blonde and walked closer, "Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?" he questioned Steve. Jamie slowly made her way to stand closer to the pair, not wanting them to break into another argument.

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked him.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor voiced out his thoughts while looking at the duo disappointedly.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury answered him with a glare.

"Did you always give your champions such mistrust?" Thor addressed.

"Are you all really that naive?" Natasha complained, standing next to the ex-soldier, who nodded her head in agreement. "S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats."

"Captain America and Heroine are on the threat potential watch list?" Bruce asked in disbelief, looking at Jamie in shock. She clenched her jaw and bit the insides of her cheek.

Natasha glared at Bruce, "We all are." she corrected.

Tony turned to Steve, "You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?"

"Stark, so help me God, if you make one more crack..."

Tony interrupted Steve, "Threat! Verbal threat! I feel threatened!"

As the team argued, they didn't realize the blue cube on Loki's scepter glowing brightly.

"Show some respect," Steve told the billionaire.

"Respect what?"

Jamie could only watch the spectacle in front of her with a stressed look on her face. Not only did everyone talk over their mouths, but they also didn't know how to say the right thing without the team snapping at each other.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor stated.

"It's his M.O., isn't it? 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." Bruce replied while looking at the others.

"You need to step away." Fury told him.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked as he laid a hand on Steve's shoulder.

Steve pushed his hand away and glared, "You know damn well why! Back off!"

Tony inched closer, "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."

Steve let out a chuckle as he sauntered around him. "Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." He simply replied, making the girls look at each other and tilted their heads, briefly agreeing with his statement.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. " Steve bickered. "Yeah, 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."

Tony shrugged, "I think I would just cut the wire."

Steve smiled, "Always a way out." he scolded. " You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero," he told him.

"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"

"Alright, guys, cut it off. We have more important matters to address." Jamie butted into their steamy discussion, giving them a disapproving look.

The duo didn't seem to let go of it because Steve came closer to the billionaire, "Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."

Thor laughed at them, "You people are so petty... and tiny." Tony rubbed his head and moved away from the blonde.

"Yeah, this is a team..." Bruce said.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr.Banner back to his-" Bruce cut Fury off. "Where? You rented my room." he angrily asked.

"The cell was just in case.." he tried to explain, but Bruce had none of it.

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" Bruce interrupted him again. Everyone became quiet and looked at him in shock. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" Bruce explained, his eyes clouding with a tint of sadness, making Jamie's heart clench.

Bruce looked at Natasha, who's unnerved. "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

Natasha slowly put a hand on her thigh holster, her grip tightening on her gun. Fury and Jamie were hot on her heels and did the same. The ex-soldier put a hand on her blade that was strapped to her leg, and inched closer to the scientist.

"Doctor Banner," Steve said in a calming manner. "Put down the scepter."

Bruce looked down and almost gasped. His grip on the scepter loosened and the computer beeped, making everyone turn to the sound.

"Got it," Tony said to everyone. Bruce put down the scepter and walked over to the computer.

"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all."

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked Bruce as they all got closer to the computer.

"I can get there faster." Tony addressed.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it."

Tony turned to leave the room, but Steve stopped him. "You're not going alone."

"You gonna stop me?" Tony shot back and jerked his hand off from his shoulder.

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

Tony inched closer to his face, "I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit." Steve through his clenched teeth, glaring at him.

At that moment, Bruce and Jamie looked at the monitor and noticed something about the Tesseract. She narrowed her eyes on the computer, her eyes taking in every information. Bruce managed to let out a, 'Oh, my God', but Jamie didn't get to react because a sudden explosion blew the engine right off the Helicarrier.

Everyone was thrown in every direction. Steve, Furry, Thor, and Tony flung across the lab while Jamie, Natasha, and Bruce were hurled down in the lower equipment room. The impact from the explosion made Jamie hit her head on the metal railing, knocking her unconscious.