Marvel: Age of Hero

Echoes and Green Shadows

Tony and the others arrived just as Loki was being escorted by an armed squad toward a glass chamber in the containment zone. He walked with his head held high, as if being in restraints was beneath his concern. As he passed Bruce Banner, a malicious smile crept across his face. Banner, in turn, looked at him warily, as though something inside him stirred for no apparent reason.

From the surveillance room, everyone watched the live feed connected to the cell. Loki stood calmly in the center of the capsule, completely composed. In front of the monitor, Fury explained the system's function with cold efficiency.

"It's made of reinforced glass. But if it's damaged," he said, pointing to a panel in front of Loki, "the capsule drops—nine thousand meters straight down."

"Impressive…" murmured Loki, eyeing the mechanism with apparent curiosity. "Though I doubt it was built with me in mind."

"It was built for someone much stronger than you," Fury replied bluntly.

Loki raised his eyes to the camera with a mocking grin, as if he could see directly through the lens into the room beyond.

"Ah, yes… the savage beast. The one who still believes he's a man. What pathetic desperation—gathering a group of broken creatures in hopes they can protect you."

There was a brief silence in the surveillance room. Then Tony, as usual, broke the tension with sarcasm.

"The very definition of diplomacy, huh? They invite us here, and they've already got a cage ready for one of our own. Do they have one for each of us, just in case?"

Even Banner frowned slightly. Natasha responded with a firm tone:

"It's just a precaution."

"Sure…" Nathaniel added with a dry smile. "Though it looks more like they've been planning to lure Banner here for quite a while."

"What if we just let him out for a bit?" said Nicolas with a teasing grin. "Let him… meet the team."

Several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents visibly tensed at the comment, exchanging nervous glances.

"Why does Loki seem to know Banner so well? Or rather… why does it feel like he doesn't know Hulk isn't the raging brute he used to be?" Ororo asked, genuinely curious.

"Jean," Owen said simply.

The redhead nodded and approached Banner with a serious expression.

"Professor Banner, don't be alarmed. I'm just going to take a quick look inside your mind. I'll try not to disturb anything."

"My mind? You think Loki did something to me?" asked Bruce, clearly concerned.

"Better safe than sorry," Nathaniel said, nodding.

Banner sat down on a nearby bench as Jean gently placed her hands on his temples. But the moment she connected, she gasped and stepped back, eyes wide.

Everyone turned to her.

"I'm sorry… that rage… I've never felt anything like it. It was like touching a storm with bare hands." She took a breath. "I'll try again."

This time, she approached more cautiously. Under the group's watchful gaze, she immediately began to sweat, her face twisting in concentration. At the same time, Banner's body started to shift. His skin changed tone, muscles expanding.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents reached for their weapons without hesitation. But the Vitae group—Owen, Nathaniel, Nicolas, and the rest—remained seated, watching the scene unfold with unshaken calm.

Finally, Hulk opened his eyes. Jean staggered back, clearly drained.

"Food?" Hulk growled, eyeing everyone in the room.

Jean was the first to respond, still catching her breath.

"Yes… there was something. Something implanted."

Hulk didn't understand, but his focus had already shifted. He walked toward the nervous S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and, with a stern expression, growled:

"Chocolate… ice cream."

The agents looked at each other in restrained panic, until all eyes turned to Maria Hill.

"Get him his ice cream," she ordered, dead serious. Clearly, they had a protocol for this.

The agents ran off immediately, and as soon as Hulk heard they'd bring it, he plopped down on the floor like a satisfied child, grinning innocently.

Steve watched, still astonished, while Thor eyed the emerald giant with glowing interest—more than likely eager to resume a fight they never finished.

"So… Loki got himself captured to trigger something with Hulk?" Steve said thoughtfully. "But what's his real plan? Jean, can you do the same with his mind?"

Jean shook her head.

"Getting into Hulk's mind was possible because his anger was focused. But what Loki implanted… it's something else. Dense. Hidden. And Loki himself… he's chaos wrapped in mischief. I'm sorry."

"Thor, do you know what your brother's planning?" asked Steve.

Thor nodded gravely.

"Loki has allied with the Chitauri. They are not from Asgard, nor from any realm we know. His goal is simple: conquer Earth. And in return, I assume he promised them the Tesseract."

"Another alien army?" Nathaniel muttered seriously.

"Another invasion? Great. As if the last one wasn't enough fun," said Nicolas as he leaned back, hands behind his head.

"Another?" Steve echoed.

"War's changed since you were frozen, Cap," Owen said with a faint smile.

"Then he'll use Selvig to create a portal," deduced Ororo. "Should we contact Hank?"

"Not yet," Owen replied. "Let Hulk rest and revert to Banner. But alert the rest of the X-Men—if something happens, they'll handle evacuation and defense."

Steve shook his head slowly, deep in thought.

"Still… it doesn't make sense. If Loki wants to lead an army, why get caught? Even if his plan was to unleash Hulk, that wouldn't cause enough chaos to justify all this."

They all glanced at the green giant, who was now happily eating a massive tub of ice cream, entirely uninterested in their conversation.

"You're underestimating our big guy," Tony said with a crooked smile. "When he loses control… there's no coming back."

"I'm not too worried about Loki," said Nicolas with a mocking tone. "That guy lost his mind a while ago. He's crazier than a goat."

"Watch your words," said Thor firmly. "Loki is still of Asgard… and he's my brother."

"He's killed eighty people since he got here," Natasha interjected, her tone sharp.

"…He's adopted," Thor muttered, visibly uncomfortable.

Amid the silence, Banner stood up, his clothes stained with melted chocolate. Without a word, Owen tossed him a towel, which he caught in mid-air.

"The problem isn't Loki…" Bruce said as he wiped himself off. "It's why he needs iridium."

Meanwhile, Tony—who had been chatting with Coulson in the corner—rejoined the conversation.

"Hey, Doc. Welcome back," Tony greeted in his usual relaxed tone. "Loki needs the iridium as a stabilizing agent. That means this time, the portal won't collapse like the one S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to contain."

As he spoke, he stood up with unnecessary theatrical flair and walked toward the main console where Fury's tech crew was working.

"It also means they'll be able to keep it open… for as long as Loki wants," he added, taking position at the monitors. He spun around and called out dramatically, "Raise the mainmast! Unfurl the sails!"

The nearby agents looked at him like they were watching a play. Tony pointed toward a corner.

"That guy's playing Galaga. Thought we didn't notice… but we did." He covered one eye. "Is this how you see the world from here, Fury?"

"Spinning," Maria Hill replied dryly, not looking up from her instruments.

"Oof… neck pain," Tony muttered before refocusing. "The rest of the materials—Barton will find them easily. But I still don't see a suitable power source…"

While typing on the console, and without anyone noticing—except for Nathaniel and Owen, who caught the movement with trained eyes—Tony discreetly slid a small device under the station. A micro data interceptor.

"Since when are you an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked, crossing her arms.

"Last night," Tony replied casually. "Read Selvig's files. Extraction theories. Apparently, I was the only one who did the homework."

"Loki needs a special energy source?" Steve asked as he approached.

"He needs to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin to cross the Kün barrier," explained Banner, tossing his chocolate-stained towel into a corner.

"Unless Selvig figured out a way to stabilize the quantum tunnel," Tony added.

"If he did, any ion reactor on the planet could serve as a gateway," Banner concluded.

Everyone glanced back and forth between Tony and Bruce like spectators at a scientific tennis match.

"Should we leave you two alone, or are you already booking a room?" Nicholas joked from the side.

"Jealous?" Tony replied without missing a beat. "Don't worry—you're not my type."

Later – Analysis Lab

Tony and Banner were working side by side, analyzing Loki's scepter. Scanners projected data across the table, and several files opened automatically with the wave of a hand.

"Hey… I've got an interesting project. Want to join in?" Tony asked while reviewing a graph.

"No problem—as long as it doesn't interfere with my duties at Vitae," Banner replied calmly.

"Wow, you really bought into the team, huh? You do know we're free to do whatever we want as long as there's no humanitarian crisis, right?"

"I know. But I like helping those who helped me. And… it's a good place for Hulk not to smash everything in sight," Bruce said with a half-smile.

Just then, Steve entered the lab.

"Ohhh, Captain, perfect timing," Tony said, tossing a few berries from a pouch into his mouth. "Care to open door number one?"

A file popped up on the screen. The image of a blonde woman with a sharp gaze and imposing physique appeared, along with her full intel profile.

"Wow… they really do go all-in with gorgeous spies," Tony muttered.

"That's…?" Bruce began, but didn't finish. One look at Steve's frown was enough.

"She's pretty," Tony grinned. "Why not let yourself be tempted? Our friend Owen already did. I'm just jealous I didn't get a personal spy assigned to me."

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked with irritation.

"If it makes me laugh, then yes," Tony answered without missing a beat.

"You should be focused on the actual threat, Stark. Not spying on people."

"And you think I'm not? Unlike dear old Grandpa Nathaniel, who at least tries to keep us informed, we're in a base where everything's marked classified. Fury's hiding things."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked seriously.

"He's a spy, Cap. The spy. His secrets have secrets. Even if Nathaniel exposed a few lies, do you really think that's all of them?"

Tony turned to Banner.

"Back me up here, Doc. Doesn't all this seem fishy to you?"

Bruce nodded calmly.

"It's pretty clear. Nicholas, even with all his jokes, hasn't stepped away from his weapon. Owen hasn't left the general's side once. And the fact they brought Jean instead of Cyclops at the last minute… it all points to them protecting Nathaniel. Which says a lot about their lack of trust in Fury."

"And yet the old man still came to watch our backs," Tony said, this time with uncharacteristic sincerity.

Steve remained quiet, reflecting.

"The general said Fury was building weapons. But when Fury came to recruit us, he talked about clean energy. So… why didn't they come to you, Stark, if that was really the goal? Your tower is self-sustaining for a full year, right?"

"It's just a prototype," Tony muttered.

"Then the general didn't lie. Fury did."

Tony nodded, smirking.

"And once that little device I planted finishes decrypting the files… we'll have all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dirty laundry in the palm of our hands."

Steve narrowed his eyes.

"You're hacking S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"In a few minutes, we'll know every last classified secret."

"And you wonder why they don't want you around," Steve said, annoyed.

"They're a spy agency that doesn't trust intelligence. Go figure."

Steve crossed his arms.

"Loki wants to divide us. And if we keep this up, he'll succeed. The man wants to start a war, and you're handing it to him on a silver platter. We have orders. We follow them."

"You're the least popular super soldier on this ship right now," Tony said with a mocking grin.

"Respecting your team doesn't mean they're right."

"So it doesn't bother you that Fury lied to us?" Banner asked.

Steve said nothing. He just stared in silence. Tony turned his back, not waiting for an answer.

"Just find the cube," Steve said before leaving the lab.

Tony waited until the door closed behind him.

"I don't know why Nathaniel's still trying to open his eyes. We've already got one super soldier. If we need another… we can always find a newer model."

Bruce glanced at him briefly, sighed, and went back to working on the scepter without a word.