𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 || 𝘋𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨

BY THE TIME Nova had woken up, a painful headache pounded against her head. Her heart thundering in her ears as she let her eyes flicker open hesitantly. A groan escaped her lips as she rubbed her temple to try and ease the pain. A light breeze hit her exposed stomach that had a large bruise spanning from the centre to her right side. She wished they had at least put a shirt on her after they had finished the surgery, but she was left in her jeans and sports bra.

Nova has a wide selection of injuries while working in the field. Like the massive burn mark on her back and broken ribs. But this type of headache was beginning to build up to being the top injury. She couldn't even think straight before she felt like her head was spinning.

"Didn't think you would wake up honestly." A voice muttered, causing the girl to jump in surprise as she looked into the corner. Finding Leila Emigold, sitting with her sword resting across her lap. Those same war-torn garments were worn on her built frame as she stared at her blankly.

As Nova sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the table, she hissed in pain. Holding the bandaged wound as she groaned in annoyance. "The doctors stitched up the hole in your head. Ten stitches." Leila sighed as she stood up and walked around to stand in front of her. "Natasha, I believe is her name, came by, but it was right after surgery. Had to basically carry her out of the room to actually get her away from you." Leila chuckled as Nova smiled.

She remembered when Natasha and Clint came back from a mission that was...grime. They had come back with injuries and were sent to be patched up. Throughout the surgery process for Natasha, Nova stayed at the window. Practically allowing the experts to hold her friend's hands in theirs. It scared Nova beyond belief to the point that she hadn't left Natasha's or Clint's side for hours until they woke up. But as always, that same jokey Clint was back to normal and Natasha was her same conniving and flirtatious self. Something that always kept Nova smiling and on her toes.

But no matter what had been going on with her life. It could've been her rather annoying stepfather or a mission, she didn't leave Natasha's side. Whenever she dozed off, she held Natasha's hand. Hoping that she would wake up to the feeling of Natasha giving her hand a gentle squeeze. She may have never woken up to that, but seeing the redhead's beautiful green eyes gleaming at the sight of her was enough.

Leila held out her hand out, Nova took it as she hopped off the table and held the side of her head with a sigh. "What about Loki? We bring him back with Thor?" She asked

A tiny chuckle fell from Leila's lips as she nodded. "I honestly was expecting you to call him Goldie Locks," she quipped, earning a short laugh from the injured girl. "But we have him in locked up inside a cage. Although I believe Thor and I should take him back to Asgard-"

"Leila, you know you can't," Nova interjected softly. "Not with the Tesseract still in the wild. He has one of my friends somewhere and I need to save him-

"That's why I trust you and will convince Thor to do the same." Leila's interjection shocked Nova, honestly. Once, they were somewhat enemies, but now they fought for the same thing. Seeking to stop a potential catastrophe from occurring due to Loki's obsessive nature to be a king. "And either way, I have to pay you back for letting me go with Jane."

Nova smiled, walking out of the room with the aid of the warrior. "How is that by the way? How's Jane?" She inquired gently.

For a moment, she saw Leila's eyes twinkle at the mere thought of the scientist. "It's amazing," Leila answered truthfully. "She's amazing. We live in New York together and I'm helping her with her work. Beats fighting sitting my chambers back on Asgard wondering what to do with my life."

"I'm happy to hear that, Leila." Nova smiled, earning one in return.

When Nova let Leila go, there had been some part of her that wished she didn't. But anyone with a clear mind could easily agree that letting an enhanced go and live amongst a human population raised some alarms in one's head. Except, when Nova saw how Jane looked at Leila and how fearful she was of the woman's possible demise, she didn't think twice about her decision. Even now, hearing how things had been going, she was happy and proud of herself.

But before any more conversation could occur, Cooper came barrelling around a corner and sprinting in their direction. "Nova, I need you to see this!" He called out, panting once he was standing in front of her. Wordlessly, Cooper held out the small device in his palm and she took it.

It was a camera feed of the lab that had Bruce Banner, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Nova turned her head to hear it clearly but only made out that they were discussing the suspicion of Fury. Wondering why Fury decided to only now bring them in after the Tesseract was stolen by Loki. And most of all, Tony was hacking into the S.H.I.E.L.D. network with a device that was decrypting all the files that would give him the information he needed.

Although Nova knew what was inside these files after a long night of thought and curiosity. She didn't want anyone seeing her file or any files that related to her for that matter. Especially Tony after she had noticed the weird stares the man had given her back on the Quinjet.

As she watched Steve walk out of the lab, Nova knew what he was going to do. It wasn't hard to tell with Tony and Bruce's words that caused him a suspicious feeling. So, handing back the holo pad, Nova rubbed her jaw in thought.

"What do we do?"

"Get to the storage room. Make sure you give him access," She murmured as rubbed her eyes. "I guess we'll be telling him Fury's secret now." Nova sighed before walking with Leila to the lab.

"And what are you going to do?" Cooper asked as he watched his friend look over her shoulder.

"Welp, I'm gonna make their process of hacking into the files a whole lot quicker," she stated before beginning her trek to the lab.

Nova and Cooper had been discussing this whole exploitation for a long while. Practically after Nova had figured out what her father was actually doing. They'd been waiting for the moment to tell the right group of people for a while. So, when Steve showed up and then Tony, Nova knew it had to be soon and to tell them.

And she wasn't doing this for some dumb reason to get back at her asshole of a father. But it was to actually make things right by telling the right people what S.H.I.E.L.D. was doing with a cube that may give them all the light across the world. But was putting them at more risk than they could handle. All Nova ever wanted to do was to do the right thing and make people around the world safe. After all, that was the job of being a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. So, this was the right thing and leave it in the hands of two men who could actually make that change. Not someone like her who barely had any power in the entire agency. Now, all she could was hope that her stepfather could understand and make the change needed.

Arriving at the lab, Nova didn't say a word to the two men as she grabbed the holo screen hanging from the ceiling. "Hi, um, what are you doing?" Tony questioned as the girl grabbed the screen and began cycling through the programs she needed to speed the process. His gaze landing to Leila, pointing at her and looking to Nova. "And why are you letting the barbarian in our space?

"I'm helping you." She muttered, deep in concentration as she began typing out codes. "And she's not a barbarian, Tony. She's a friend."

"I highly doubt that," Tony scoffed. "I mean, she looks like she hasn't showered in-"

Before he could finish, the piercing cold of a blade pressed to his neck. Turning his gaze back to Leila, who wore a grin. "Dare insult me again and I will kill you."

The man swallowed the lump in his throat, pressing two of his fingers to the blade and pushing it away. "What are you helping me with exactly?" Tony asked, hopping off the table and moving around the screen to watch the girl.

"Hack into the S.H.I.E.L.D. files."

When Tony was about to interject, Nova continued. "Don't worry, I know you started hacking when you were on the bridge." she stated I'm only helping speed the process before they detect the virus."

Bruce frowned at the girl. "Wait, how do you know that?"

"Camera in the vent." Pointing in that direction, the two older men could see the faint flashing of red light between the parted metal. "Cooper had set them up a while back in case he ever needed to keep watch. I guess it came in handy after all." She smiled as she turned the screen towards Tony who stared at it.

A tiny smile appeared as he nodded and turned his head toward the girl. "Good one, kid."

"I'm not a kid, Tony."

"Just take the compliment."

Rolling her eyes Nova walked around the screen and hoisted herself onto the table beside the sceptre. "Now, we just wait for the download to finish so you two can see what's actually going on here."

Bruce, still slightly confused by the girl, turned to Nova. "Okay, I need to ask. Why are you doing this? I thought you were Fury's daughter- or Stepdaughter?" He asked as the girl laughed.

"Oh, I am," she said, grabbing a pair of tweezers and fiddling with them. "But that doesn't mean I can't call him out on his stuff. And why I'm doing it... I'm just trying to do the right thing." She shrugged and the man nodded, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he looked between her and Tony.

The sound of footsteps approaching got the girl's attention as she watched the door. Knowing well that Tony's virus had been spotted and Fury was on his way to question. But with her hacking, it was untraceable. Something she had picked up way before using it on the S.H.I.E.L.D. database. A few weeks of stealing laptops in coffee shop's taught her quite a bunch.

Right on time, Fury stepped inside with a scowl. "What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" He questioned before looking at his daughter. "And why the hell are you out of recovery?" Nova rolled her eyes and opted to not reply.

"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony butted in, forcing a fake smile.

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

"We are. The models locked and we're sweeping for the signature now," Bruce told him, pointing to a large device in the back of the room. "When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"Yeah, and then you're giving Leila and Thor the Tesseract," Nova reminded her father and looked at her.

"It's not going back with them." He told her sternly.

The challenging look made Nova hop off the table and step towards her father, tilting her head. "And why's that?"

"The Tesseract goes with Thor whether you like it or not, Director," Leila said. "The power that the cube contains is beyond your fragile mortal mind can understand."

Before he could respond, an alert appeared on the screen beside Tony. Drawing his attention as he scanned over the information for a moment. "Better question. What is "Phase 2"?" He mused, looking at the man.

Steve and Cooper then appeared, placing an old HYDRA weapon on the table. A triumphant grin appeared on Nova's lips as she gave Cooper a nod in thanks. He returned it with a matching smile.

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons," Steve answered before looking at Tony. "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Roger's, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract." As Fury said that, Nova heard a beep from the computer and nudged Tony. His eyes slightly widened at the sight of a blueprint as he stood up from the table. "This does not mean we're making-"

"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony butted in, turning the screen towards the Director. "What were you lying?" He asked, showing a 3D model of what looked like to be a missile with the Tesseract energy inside. Fury glanced at Tony and then Cooper who had his arms crossed. Then finally, his eyes landed on Nova who stood with a clenched jaw.

"You hacked the files, didn't you?" He questioned harshly.

The girl in accusation waved her arms. "Yeah, I did. They needed to know what you were doing, dad," she replied. "I told you I won't be part of a war you started."

Tony patted the girl's shoulder. "And that was the right choice, kid."

As Nova stood there with Fury glaring at her, she felt like a disappointment. His eyes showed nothing but hurt and betrayal by her actions. But she knew what to expect months before she even told anyone about the weapons. It just surprisingly hurt her knowing that her dad would be affected by her actions- From doing what she believed was right. Even when she believed in her heart that letting Leila go was right, he berated her from doing so. He'd always been tough on her and always critical of how she acted or did things. So, she was expecting him to keep that same type of attitude. Not the attitude like she killed his puppy or something.

"I was wrong, Director," Steve said. This world hasn't changed a bit."

Thor and Natasha then appeared, both looking confused by what was happening in front of them."Did you know about this?" Bruce questioned Natasha who tilted her head.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" She asked.

Bruce scoffed. "I was in Calcutta," he reminded. "I was pretty well removed."

"Loki is manipulating you," Natasha said as she took steps toward the doctor.

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" He questioned.

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

The doctor laughed. "Yes and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Grabbing the screen, Bruce pointed at the weapon on the screen. "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Nova looked up, making eye contact with her dad before looking toward Thor and Leila. "It's because of them."

Thor and Leila having been singled out, looked at the girl in confusion. "Us?" He mused as Nova nodded.

"Last year, Earth had visitors from another planet who had a grudge match that levelled a small town," Fury began as he stepped into the centre of the group. "We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor stated. "And Leila had no other choice than being here because of my actions. Don't put her in a position that she had no control over." Leila stopped the man, grabbing his wrist and giving a reassuring look that made him purse his lips and growl.

Fury turned to him. "But you're not the only people out there, are you?" He inquired, silence being returned in response, egging Fury to keep going. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve inquired.

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

Nova frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Higher form? Thor, I read your stories, you are supposed to protect the earth. You should have a say in if we are or not." Looking between the god and Leila, she raised a brow. "Am I wrong?" She asked quizzically.

Cooper nodded in agreement. "We had no other choice but to have a safe goat for any being such as yourself that may want war," Cooper defended.

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

"A nuclear deterrent," Tony suddenly said, gaining the Director's attention. "Because that always calms everything right down."

His comment didn't seem to affect the Director as the man kept a deadpan. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark."

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

But he wasn't able to get far as Tony stepped forward cutting the soldier off. "Hold on," he stopped Steve. "How is this now about me?" He questioned.

Steve turned to him with an unimpressed look. "I'm sorry, isn't everything?"

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor stated.

Fury grovelled in annoyance. "Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" He questioned.

"You treat your champions with such mistrust."

"Are you boys really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats." Natasha told them.

Bruce raised a brow. "Captain America's on threat watch?" He questioned.

"We all are," she stated. "Nova, Cooper, Stark, and many more."

"Alright, hold on a second. Why the hell am I on there?" She questioned harshly.

"Not when you act like this and distribute secret files to civilians," Fury barked, silencing his daughter.

As the team continued to argue, a weird noise could be heard behind Nova. She turned to see the sceptre glowing a bit brighter than usual. A frown appeared before she glanced back at the team.

"Guys!" She yelled, stopping the conversation and gaining everyone's attention. "This is what Loki wants, alright? We all just need to stop."

"Isn't this what you wanted, kid?" Tony asked. "To do the right thing? No point in trying to gain control of the situation now." Tony stated.

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

"That's his M.O., isn't it?" Bruce inquired as everyone looked at him. "I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb." He told them.

Fury held her hand up towards the doctor. "Dr. Banner, you need to stop."

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked, placing his hand on Steve's shoulder.

Only for it to be slapped away in a flash. "You know damn well why. Back off!"

"I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony replied.

Nova stepped forward. "Guys, we need to stop."

"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?" Steve questioned as he stepped around to Tony.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony deadpanned. Nova let out a low whistle and earned a glare from Fury.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you." Steve hissed. "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 the wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony countered with a deadpan.

Steve smiled coldly as he glanced at the others in the room. "Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." Steve spat.

That caused Nova to interject. "That's not true. Tony may have sold weapons, but he made up for it by stopping terrorists from using them. He fixed the damage he caused," she defended as Tony smiled and motioned to the girl.

Nova had idolized Tony Stark since she was able to create a motherboard for a laptop. His work with the arc reactor was astonishing and she always wondered what it took to make. Sure her father was the one to leave her the schematics for his Apex suit. But Tony was the person that inspired her to even go and decide to actually build the suit. Not to mention seeing the Iron Man suit sparked her to try and use the same source of energy he used. Sadly, she never learned how to so she was stuck with the jet engines she salvaged.

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

"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Steve suggested, clearly wounded by the comment.

A laugh cut the two as everyone looked to Thor as the god smiled mockingly at them. "You people are so petty, and tiny."

That comment personally struck a particularly bad part of Nova who snapped her head in his direction. "What'd you say?" She muttered as the man turned his head in her direction.

"What is it you humans say? "Did I stutter"?" He questioned as the girl stepped face to face with the man.

Her size not being at his stature, but her attitude and anger matched the gods without a doubt. "You keep talking like that I might just make sure you don't have kids," she growled as the god smiled widely at her threat. "Fucking try me, Goldie Locks. See what happens when you tick me off."

Leila was now becoming the mediator, stepping between the two and glaring at both of them. "Enough!" She ordered. "You two are acting like children."

"And what would you do, child?" Thor continued. "You don't have the strength to face me." He mocked as the girl let a smile appear.

"Yeah, your right." She agreed before pushing his chest with her finger. A weird jolt of shock hit Thor's skin and caused the god's smile to falter. "But I will make you feel a world of hurt, Thor. I'll kill your brother and watch whatever happiness in your life die out just like mine has." Nova threatened before nodding to herself. "You may be a god, but you aren't invincible."

"Yeah, this is a team," Bruce stated sarcastically motioning to Nova and Thor who continued to stare one another down.

Fury softly grabbed his daughter and arm and began to pull her away from the god. "Agent Romanoff, can you please escort Agent Usoro and Dr. Banner to their-"

Before Fury could even finish his sentence, Bruce had interjected. "Where? You rented my room."

The Director grasped onto reasoning, clearly not liking that although the man was right on his observation, he didn't want to admit it. "The cell was just in case-"

"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't. I know, I tried." The silence in the room of the confession had caused the man to glance around at them. "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." He then turned his gaze to Natasha. "You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

"Dr. Banner," Steve muttered as Fury and Natasha reached for their hips where their guns were placed. Thor and Leila stepped in front of Nova who glanced up at him before flickering down to the weapon in Bruce's hand. "Put down the sceptre."

The sound of a screen beeping got everyone's attention to shift away from Bruce. The doctor stared down at the Asgardian weapon in his hand before placing it back down on the table. "Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all," Bruce told them as he walked past.

"You found the Tesseract?" Thor asked and Bruce couldn't get an answer out before Tony said, "I can get there faster."

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," Leila told them. "No human is a match for it."

"You're not going alone," Steve told Tony, catching the man's arm to only have his hand slapped away.

"You're gonna stop me?"

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

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit."

"Oh, my God," Bruce muttered as he looked up from the screen.

"What is it?" Cooper inquired as Bruce looked at him.

"The Tesseract. It's-"

Before Bruce could finish, an explosion below the grates in the centre of the room shot up flames. Sending Nova flying back to curl up in a ball with her eyes clamping shut in fear. Her body trembling as she waited for her body to burn under the heat. But nothing came.

When she opened her eyes, she looked up to see a groaning Thor. His eyes clamped shut as he gripped Mjoilner tightly in his grasp as he waited for the flames to die down. And as soon as they did, Thor rose to his feet and held his hand out for the breathless girl.

Minutes ago, they were at one another's throats. Willing to fight because of comments being thrown at one another. Nova didn't know how to take this demigod saving her except for an act of kindness or mercy.

Taking his hand, she pulled herself to her feet before she felt another arm grab her bicep. Turning to find it was Leila with a worried expression. "Are you okay?" She swallowed the thick lump in her throat as she nodded.

"Okay, engine three has gone out. Can you get there?" Fury called out to his daughter, coughing up smoke from his lungs. Again, Nova gave a nod before Fury did the unexpected. He gave her a kiss on the forehead. Not giving Nova enough time to react as he quickly made his way to the bridge. Leaving the Usoro girl to try and regain her bearings.