𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒏
→˚₊·  ܴೈ We've known all along that we were each others weakness, that we were the other's only uncovered spot that the magic of the river styx could never protect. ❞

ELAIN HAD FOLLOWED  Steve out of the lab before he came to a halt, Elain, confused looked at the Captain. He looked back at Elain with an expression of deep thought, before he held out his hand for her to take - which she did before he led her down the halls. 

The two passed many agents before Steve finally gained a sense of where he was going, they came to a door and Elain went to use her abilities to open it but Steve stopped her.

"I've got it, Elain," The words were smooth coming off of his tongue.

"Alright. Show me what you've got soldier," Elain teased as she let go of the mans hand.

Elain watched as he got a grip on the door, he tensed up for a moment before he managed to pull it open with his strength. Elain had to tear her eyes away from him as she began to scan over his muscles.

Steve looked back at Elain and ushered her in as he made sure no one had seen them. The woman was quick to brush past the man before looking back at him as he followed her steps. Both being quiet as they looked around upon hearing indestinctive talking. 

Elain easily got herself onto the platform above before she watched Steve jump onto it with ease. The woman gave him a kind smile before she motioned him for her to go ahead of her so she could follow him.

Elain followed him in the fog of their silence, looking through many doors and many rooms. Ultimately, Steve seemingly found what he had been looking for, old HYDRA gear. Elain noticed the expression on his features and instantly placed a hand on his arm.

"I'm sure that we are all fine, they wouldn't try to manipulate their weapons..." Elain was clearly not quiet sure but trying to be as reassuring as she could be.

"I really hope not," Steve was clearly worried and not happy about his discovery, "They should have left all of this behind."

Steve picked up one of the weapons before motioning for Elain, the woman rolled her eyes and picked up one as well before following Steve back out. Going wherever they needed too. Due to Elain's thinking, she believed it was back to Banner's lab.

The walk remained silent as the only sound was the padding of their shoes. It wasn't long before they made it back to the lab.

"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons," Steve spoke as he and Elain dropped the weapons on the table with a loud thud, "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract," Fury states as his hands went to his hips while he looked at the two adults before moving closer, "This does not mean that we're making..." 

"I'm sorry Nick! What were you lying?" Tony fiegned shock as he turned the screen around to face the group.

"I was wrong, Director, the world hasn't changed a bit," Steve shot as he looked down at Elain who seemed to stare at the door as Sirius, Thor, and Natasha entered.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce questioned Natasha as he pointed his glasses to the screen.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha questioned as she 

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed," Banner retorted with a fake smile, clearly getting aggravated.

"Loki is manipulating you," Natasha gave him a sharp look. 

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Bruce easily shot back as he made a face of anger, his hands moving around.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha states as she got closer to the man.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy," The Doctor stood his ground as he moved away from Natasha, he wasn't going to lose control.

"I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction," Bruce states as he points to the screen, dead set on getting an answer.

"Because of them," Fury quickly started to point at Thor, Sirius, and Elain.

"Me?" Thor questioned while Elain was clearly not surprised, though Sirius seemed to get a bit more twitchy.

"See, what did I tell you about these people?" Elain sighed at her brother's words.

"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," Fury states.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor states defending his people, Elain nodded as well.

"He is right. All we want to do is protect these people. You can't get this powerful, power can corrupt people just as people corrupt power. Uncle Loki is a prime example! You must think this through, Director. You aren't acting upon the best interests of your people!" Elain exclaimed as she placed her hands on her hips, "This is ludacris! And no, I do not mean the rapper. I mean the word-"

"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, that can't be controlled," Fury states, "Elain's uncontrollable, her abilities can go haywire at any moment. Sirius seems to have a way with people no matter what they want - need I go on?"

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve questioned as he grabbed Elain's arm as she went to move forward.

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

"A higher form?" Steve questioned.

"You forced our hand," Fury stayed calm as he stated this, "We had to come up with something."

"A nuclear deterrent," Tony states with a bored look, "Because that always calms everything right down."

"Sounds lovely, destruction at it's finest. Wait, Don't take that the wrong way, it's a joke," Sirius quickly added.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark," Fury shot at the billionaire. 

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

"Wait, wait. Hold on, how is this now about me?" Tony quickly questioned.

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve questioned causing a bit of laughter, and not the good kind.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor's disappointment was clear.

"It seems that they are just as bad as some Asgardians. This must be why Uncle Loki has come here," Elain chewed on her bottom lip. 

Some type of energy started to jab at Elain which only added to her growing annoyance as well as her growing anger. 

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury shot back at Thor.

"You treat your champions with such mistrust!" Thor shot.

"Are you boys really that naive?"

"That's a rather rude statement."

"Elain now is not the time to keep a nice composer."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats!"

"So you're being monitored? Because if not then I shall call bullshit."

"Captain America's a threat? To what?"

"Your mom."

"SIRIUS! Stop that." 

"We all are."

"You want a threat? Damn, I'll show you a threat."

"Sirius, you aren't even on the list. Please, just be quiet."

"No, he is."

"Wait, you're on that list?"

"Are you above or below angry bees?"

Elain could feel her breath picking up as her composer began to falter. Steve was trying to hold her back as well as Sirius, but it was clear that everyone in the room was riled up and not in a good way. It seemed as if the twins weren't the only ones at a breaking point. 

"Stark, so help me god if you make one more wisecrack..."

"Threat! Verbal threat. I feel threatened."

"Feelings, am I right?"

"Sirius, just shut up!" 

"Show some respect."

"Respect, what?"

The arguing continued and continued. It was making Elain's body shake, she hated listening to arguing. Elain's lack of control was only getting worse by the minute. Small bits of energy flared up the software in the room causing a few eyes to go to the girl whose eye was twitching.

"Is no one listening?"

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

"Elain isn't looking so calm, will she go all big and green as well?"

"She's fine just twitching."

"Keep calm. Be nice. Be nice. Be nice..." 

"That's his M.O., isn't it?" Banner shot, "I mean, what are we? A team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."

"You need to step away," Fury states with a pointed look.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Stark says as he puts a hand on Steve's shoulder.

"You know damn well why." Steve snapped as he slapped the handoff, "Back off!"

Elain felt her brother's grip get tighter on her as the two began to move over to their Uncle. Thor was trying to stay collected as well but it seemed to run in the family, lack of control, that is. Elain was slightly surprised the crackling of thunder wasn't roaring yet. 

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony states as he eyes Steve with a smug look.

"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor, take that off, what are you?" Steve shot as he tried to one-up Tony.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Tony easily states off of the top of his head.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you," Steve sneered as his anger took over, "I've seen the footage and the only thing you really fight for is yourself."

"He's not the guy to make the sacrifice play," Elain mumbled while Sirius let out a laugh. 

It seems that everyone was struggling more and more as time began to move. Elain's loss of control only got worse and one of the computers completely crashed while Sirius's eyes were getting more and more golden. 

"To lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you," Steve states.

"I think I would just cut the wire," Tony didn't hesitate to say.

"Always a way out," Steve spoke, "You know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Just like the kid over there. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." 

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds," Elain made an 'o' with her lips as she listened to the conversation, Sirius seemed to get smug. 

"You people are so petty, and so tiny," Thor let out a laugh of anger before he moved away from his niece and his nephew. 

"Yeah, this is a team," Bruce spoke before Elain grabbed her brother's arm tightly.

"Agent Romanoff would you escort Dr. Banner back to his..." Fury began to trail off as Banner seemed to have something else to say.

"Where? You rented my room!" Banner exclaimed angrily. 

Elain felt bad for Banner in a way. Everyone's end goal for the man was seeming to use him for information before locking him up when he lost control. It seems they didn't realize locking someone up only made their self-control much worse. 

"The cell was just in case..." Fury began to trail off once more before being cut off by Bruce once more.

"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't. I know. I tried!" Bruce's words stunned everyone. 

The room ended in a silence as a wave of darkness seemed to cloud over everyone. Elain wasn't sure if it was because no one knew how to react to Banner's suicide attempt or if it was because they were finally being put down in a sense. 

"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," Banner began to speak. 

Elain twitched yet again and another computer broke.

"Get ahold of Elain someone," Fury's words were clearly an order.

"That'll only make it worse," Sirius copied the man's tone as he spoke.

"I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freakshow and put everyone here at risk! Do you want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?" Banner began to get a bit more aggressive. 

Elain heard the swift opening of a gun holder, her eyes widened at the sound as she looked at her brother before attempting to find the source of the sound. Who had opened the pouch, why would they? They couldn't kill the man, that would be beyond evil. She hadn't even noticed that he had picked up the scepter. 

"Dr. Banner... Banner put down the scepter."

The computer started beeping and everyone's head turned. Elain tried to catch herself but she accidentally sent out a wave of energy causing most to fall over, unless they were able to catch something that happened to be near. 

"Got it..." Banner placed it down as he regained his balance, "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my party trick after all."

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor questioned.

Elain sighed to herself as the goal was back on the table, the Tesseract. Hopefully, the calmness could be regained at some point in their lives. 

"I could get there the fastest," Stark was quick to say.

Elain tilted her head as she sharply turned to Thor who seemed to have quite a few words to say. Elain shook her head as if trying to tell him to be quiet but Sirius was quick to stop her - seemingly enjoying the madness. 

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard!" And there the fighting began yet again.

"Thor, please, just leave this be!"

"But he isn't wrong, sis."

"I know but still."

"No human is a match for it," Thor spoke yet again.

"You're not going alone," Steve quickly stopped Tony from leaving.

"You're gonna stop me?" Tony questioned Steve.

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

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man," Tony shot back as they began to one-up each other.

"Put on the suit," Steve spoke angrily.

After those words were spoken, a series of continuous beeps began to fill the air. Despite the arguing, everyone seemed to pick up on it. Elain began to look around as if trying to find the source of the noise herself, but, to no avail. 

In a matter of seconds, a hard explosion hit. It sent everyone in the room flying in a different direction. Fire sprouted through the vents that had been underneath everyone's feet. The loud shatter of glass and heat nipped at everyone, every hero landing somewhere in the lab or somewhere below it. 

Elain had been blown a bit by her brother, her back harshly hitting a plane of glass causing a groan to escape her lips. Thankfully, her breastplate protected most of her back and upper body from the harshness of the glass. 

"Put on that suit," Steve mumbled to Tony as he got himself up off the ground.

"Yeah," Tony agreed before everyone began to move.

Sirius was quick to get over to his sister, he offered her a hand and helped her to her feet. She was quick to regain her balance and looked at him.

"Why didn't you stop them?" She questioned as she ignored the loud alarms that blared through the halls. 

"I couldn't," Sirius lied through his teeth.

"Bullshit," Elain cussed ignoring the look of shock from her brother, "You need to tell me why. Give me an actual answer."

"Elain... now isn't the time to get angry," Sirius didn't back away from his sister but he was clearly avoiding this question.

"Give me an answer!" She exclaimed before faltering, "Please..."

"I can't tell you," Sirius shook his head as he looked at his sister, "I can't."

"And why is that? When have I ever lied to you or hid something from you?" Elain retorted with a look.

"Elain this isn't something that you will like," Sirius gave her a soft look as he kept her where she was.

Elain noticed how he seemed to move to block the doors with every move she went to make. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she began to over-think. Is he truly on our side? 

Sirius seemed to notice the look on Elain's face, the look that seemed to get more distant by the second, "Sirius..."

"Elain..."

"You aren't on our side... are you?"

The silence that fell after that question caused Elain to back away from her brother. A look of pain and shame rising onto her face as her hand flew to cover her mouth. He reached out for her but she moved.

"You... after everything!" Elain's heart shattered, "How could you?!"

"It's what's best for me, systir. Please, nothing has to change between us. We will still be as we always have been," Sirius looked at her pleadingly, "I need you just as you need me."

"We've known all along that we were each others weakness, that we were the other's only uncovered spot that the magic of the river styx could never protect," Elain's voice rushed out as she began to hold back tears, "You've been so protective, but it wasn't just for that reason, wasn't just because you were an overprotective brother."

"I've made my fair share of enemies alongside our Uncle Loki," Sirius states as most emotion seems to wipe from his features.

"And you knew they'd come for me. You knew they knew I was your weakness!" Elain exclaimed, "So what are you going to do with me? Kill me yourself?" 

Sirius seemed to freeze at his sister's words, "I could never rid you from this realm, any realm. You are more to me than anyone else is. On the same side or not, no harm shall come to you."

"You say that now but if you were to ever win, I'd be the one on a leash."