Chapter 33: Snakes on the Plane (Last)

Chapter 33: Snakes on the Plane (Last)

2012

S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier

Conference Room

Two Hours Later

(Omniscient POV)

Steve, Tony, and Fury are all gathered at the conference table in the damaged Helicarrier. Brock and Maria stand off to the side as Fury pulls a handful of cards out. He throws them down and they scatter on the table. A few were still wet with Coulson's blood.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." He said towards Steve, who picks up one of the cards and looks down at it with a sad look on his face.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications are down, the location of the cube is still unknown, Natasha is in critical condition, and Banner, Thor, and Barton are still in the wind." Fury explains to them as he paces slowly around the table.

"The council believed that the best way to protect ourselves was to build an arsenal using the power of the Tesseract. But I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier." Fury stops pacing and stands behind Steve and Tony's chairs

"There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, and see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could...Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes." Fury continues.

At his words, Tony stands from his chair, takes one last glance at the bloody cards on the table, and walks out of the room.

Fury folds his hands behind his back and looks, regretfully, down at the floor.

"Well, maybe it was an old-fashioned notion." Fury calls out behind the retreating man.

Steve places the card back on the table, rises from his chair, and moves over to pat Fury on the shoulder, before following behind Tony.

Watching the two men leave, Fury lets out a tired sigh and turns toward Maria and Brock.

"Hill, I want you to do everything you can to get our systems back online. Rumlow, you and your men start prepping. I want you all ready for whatever Loki has planned."

The two give the man a salute and move to follow his orders.

***************

S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier

Confinement Room

Tony stands alone in the small room, overlooking where the cylindrical glass cage used to be. Gazing around the room, he notices two deep grooves carved into the floor.

He raises an eyebrow and bends down to inspect the damaged floor.

Tony runs his hands over the deep grooves and noted that they looked kind of like footprints.

"Was he married?" A voice calls out behind him and he turns his head to see Steve standing in the doorway.

"So you're saying he wants an encore of what he did in Germany?" Steve asks.

"No. That was just a preview. His next act, that'll be the opening night. And Loki, he's a full-fledged diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered on them....Son-of-a-bitch." Tony snaps his fingers, an idea forming in his head.

He turns back around and smiles at Steve.

"I think I know where he's headed."

***************

S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier

S.T.R.I.K.E Team Barracks

The S.T.R.I.K.E team move about the barracks, some doing last-minute weapon checks while others sent out prayers to the Fhrer that they would survive.

Brock stood off to the side, overseeing his men.

A blank look was on his face but inside, rage and indignation riddled his mind.

Originally, he planned to just let things play out the way they did in the movie and join the fun later to snatch some power for himself. But Loki's intervention made him alter his plans.

Now...he was out for blood.

Footsteps sounded behind him and Brock turned to see Steve, dressed in full Captain America gear, walk through the door.

"Captain Rumlow, Time to go," Steve says.

Brock gives him an unreadable look.

"Go where, sir?" He questions, playing clueless.

"I'll tell you on the way. Can your men fly one of those jets?" Steve asks.

Brock nods.

"Then suit up, time to get some payback," Steve says.

The Captian turns to leave as a cold, Bloodthirsty smile breaks Brock's emotionless mask.

"Yes, Sir."

****************

A/n: Ok, short explanation for some changes that happened in the background of the last chapter. Because Thor arrived at Loki's cell earlier, he wasn't around to save Black Widow from the Hulk. Because of this Black Widow was hurt during that encounter and wasn't there to snap Hawkeye out of his mind-controlled state, so currently, he's still working for Loki.

Hope you're enjoying the story so far and as always, thanks for reading!