Chapter Text
Chapter 44
Soda’s POV
The Helicarrier hummed like a living thing. Every wall and floor thrummed with power, like we were floating on the back of some giant engine instead of a ship in the sky. And maybe we were. Stark had been making cracks about retrofits and “improvements” all morning, and Banner kept lighting up like a kid on Christmas at every schematic.
Me? I couldn’t stop moving. Pacing, tapping my fingers, running my tongue over my teeth. This place was caged lightning. It made me itchy.
In the glass-walled lab, Banner and Stark were hunched over computer banks, trading science jargon so fast I only caught a word here or there. Pony was hanging close, his light patterns shifting faintly with curiosity and a little awe. He loved listening, soaking it in, even if he didn’t understand half of it. Darry kept to the edges, arms crossed, posture screaming disapproval, but eyes locked on everything, like he was waiting for a brick to fall.
Two-Bit was leaning against a table, flicking a coin in the air and catching it, smirking at his own private jokes. Dally lounged by the reinforced glass, arms crossed, pretending to be bored. Johnny kept by him, close but quiet, flames flickering and dying along his fingers like nervous ticks. Steve (ours, not Rogers) was practically salivating at the tech, his gauntlets whirring faintly every time his mind reached out toward the Helicarrier’s engines.
And in the middle of it all, the arguments started.
“Phase Two isn’t about the Tesseract,” Stark said, leaning on the table with that smug tilt of his head. “It’s about building a nuclear deterrent with SHIELD toys. Fury’s keeping secrets.”
Cap bristled immediately.
“We were brought here to work together, not build weapons of mass destruction,” Cap argued.
“That’s adorable, Rogers,” Stark fired back. “But wake up. The world’s changing, and Fury knows it.”
“Fury’s hiding things,” Banner muttered, eyes narrowed at the schematics on-screen. “This isn’t science for protection. This is an escalation.”
Darry finally spoke, voice like a hammer.
“Secrets tear teams apart,” Darry said darkly. “If SHIELD’s hiding stuff, it’ll cost lives. I’ve seen it before.” He looked like he wanted to march straight to Fury’s office and demand answers.
My chest buzzed with tension. The air was thick, hotter, heavier, and it wasn’t just Johnny’s flames warming the room. Something was pushing us all, scraping at our nerves.
Pony stiffened suddenly. His eyes glowed faintly, and the grooves in his suit pulsed red.
“Guys,” Pony whispered. “It’s Loki. He’s… he’s pushing at us. Fanning the sparks.”
“Yeah, well, it’s working,” Dally snapped, slamming a fist against the glass so hard it rattled. “Why are we even listening to Fury? Why are we letting him play us like dogs on a leash?”
“Better than being Fury’s attack dog is being Loki’s puppet,” I shot back, faster than I meant. “Look at us, we’re snapping at each other while he’s locked up laughing.”
Two-Bit chuckled darkly, tossing his coin again.
“Kinda funny, if you think about it,” Two-Bit said with a smirk. “The trickster god gets us to trick ourselves.”
“Shut up, Two,” Darry growled.
That’s when tempers really blew. Stark and Rogers squared off, voices rising. Darry barked about responsibility, Dally cursed SHIELD’s name, Banner’s voice went sharp as glass, and Johnny’s flames licked higher with every word.
The whole place felt ready to combust.
And me? I did the only thing I could.
I drew a breath, rolled my shoulders, and let the charm ripple out. My grin stretched easily, my voice dropped low, a warmth that could bend steel.
“Hey, hey, c’mon now,” I said charmingly. “Deep breaths, everybody. We’re all friends here, right? Strays, Avengers, whatever you wanna call it, we’ve been through worse.”
It worked, somewhat. Banner unclenched, Rogers blinked, even Stark smirked like maybe I wasn’t so bad. But Pony’s voice cut through the haze, soft but urgent.
“He’s still in our heads,” Pony murmured. His lights flashed like warning sirens. “This isn’t just us arguing. This is him… pulling strings.”
I believed him. But before I could say more, alarms blared across the Helicarrier, the sound drilling into my bones. The floor vibrated, Johnny’s flames sputtered, Steve’s gauntlets lit up.
Something big was coming. And Loki’s smile down in his glass cage told us he knew it.
Then all of a sudden, the alarms screamed through the Helicarrier like a siren stuck in my chest. Lights flashed red across the lab, and for a second, all the yelling stopped; everybody’s heads snapped up.
“What the hell was that?” Two-Bit muttered, coin vanishing into his pocket like it never existed.
Fury’s voice barked over the comms.
“We are under attack!” Fury shouted. “Hostiles incoming on deck seven. Lock down all compartments, NOW.”
That was when the first explosion hit. The whole lab lurched sideways, glass rattling in the frames, metal groaning like a beast in pain. I shot forward, faster than anyone else, catching Johnny before he smacked into a console. Ash flared off him instinctively, hot enough to sting my arms.
“Thanks,” Johnny muttered, voice tight.
“No problem, just don’t barbecue me,” I teased.
A shadow streaked past the windows. A quinjet. Arrows thudded against the hull with explosive sparks. My stomach dropped.
“Hawkeye,” Natasha hissed.
The realization hit like cold water. Loki had him.
Another explosion tore open the deck, flames and smoke curling up through the air vents. The ship bucked again. Steve braced himself on the railing, metal groaning under his telekinetic grip. Darry was already moving, barking orders like we were back on some battlefield.
“Mindlight (Pony) and Jokester (Two-Bit) will secure the lab!” Atlas (Darry) shouted. “Breaker (Steve), with me, keep this bird in the air!”
Mindlight’s (Pony) lights flared around us in a shimmering shield just as another shockwave rattled the glass. The whole world shimmered pale blue, his emotions radiating steady calm into my head like a lifeline.
“Stay close,” Mindlight (Pony) said, and for once, I didn’t argue.
But Banner… Banner wasn’t calm.
He staggered to his knees, clutching his head, sweat pouring down his face.
“No… not now, I can’t..” Bruce stammered.
“Bruce!” Natasha was already moving toward him, eyes wide.
But I felt it, the shift in the air. Heavy, electric. Rage like a tidal wave swelling inside him, begging to break.
“Oh, hell,” Reckless (Dally) muttered. He wasn’t scared; he looked excited, like a fighter before the bell. “It’s happening.”
Ash’s (Johnny) ash swirled, nervous and hot.
Jokester (Two-Bit) whistled low, muttering, “Well, there goes our deposit.”
I darted in, crouching near Banner, my charm rolling like a warm tide.
“Bruce, hey, breathe,” I said with charm. “Stay with us, yeah? You don’t want the Other Guy running the show.”
His eyes snapped to mine, green flashing through the brown.
“It’s too late,” Bruce choked out.
Then he roared.
The lab exploded in chaos. Consoles flipped, glass shattered. Banner’s body swelled, muscles ripping fabric, skin flushing green as the Hulk ripped out of him with a sound that shook the walls.
“Go! MOVE!” Atlas (Darry) bellowed, shoving me toward the door just before a table flew across the room and embedded itself in the wall where we’d been.
The Hulk roared again, swinging wide. I blurred out of the way, zipping past flying debris, my pulse pounding. Even moving fast, I could feel the weight of his rage like a storm trying to swallow me.
Mindlight’s (Pony) shield flared, catching a chunk of metal before it could crush Natasha.
Ash (Johnny) flared up, ash cloaking him.
“We can’t fight him, we’ll tear this whole place apart!” Ash (Johnny) called nervously.
Reckless (Dally) grinned like a madman, already bracing.
“Speak for yourself,” Dally said with a smirk.
The floor tilted violently as another explosion rocked the Helicarrier. Through the smoke, I caught a glimpse of Hawkeye, perched and ready, arrows tipped with fire sparking against the hull. Loki’s fingerprints were all over this: chaos, division, destruction.
And we were right in the middle of it.
The Helicarrier was coming apart. No way around it. Smoke, fire, alarms screaming like a banshee, it felt like being inside a bomb going off in slow motion.
And right at the center of it: Hulk.
He tore through the lab, smashing consoles, tearing the floor plates like they were tinfoil. Mindlight’s (Pony) light shields flickered under the shockwaves, sparks of gold and blue dancing across his arms. He gritted his teeth, trying to steady the emotions bouncing around the room: fear, panic, anger, but the Hulk’s rage was a tidal wave he couldn’t stop.
I zipped across the room, scooping Natasha out of the way just before a fist cratered the wall where she’d been.
“You owe me one, Red!” I yelled, dropping her safely behind a barrier.
She didn’t answer; her eyes were locked on Banner’s massive frame as it barreled past, roaring like a thunderclap.
Atlas (Darry) stepped in front of us, square as a wall.
“Banner!” Atlas (Darry) shouted. “You’re not the enemy here!”
Didn’t matter. Hulk swung, and Atlas (Darry) caught the punch, boots sliding across the deck with sparks. The sound was like a bomb going off, metal shrieking, shockwave rattling through my teeth. Atlas (Darry) held for half a second, then got hurled across the room, smashing through a bulkhead. He groaned, already climbing back up.
“Okay… maybe he is,” Atlas (Darry) said with a wince.
Jokester (Two-Bit) darted around, his usual grin plastered on.
“Big guy doesn’t like you, Atlas (Darry)!” Jokester (Two-Bit) teased. “Guess he’s team Loki!” He waved his hands like a magician, and somehow Hulk’s next swing clipped a steel girder instead of Ash (Johnny). Even luck had a sense of humor.
Ash (Johnny) cloaked himself in ash, pelting the Hulk’s face with burning embers, not to hurt him, just to blind him long enough to pull Mindlight (Pony) out of the way.
Reckless (Dally)? He just laughed, chest glowing faintly as he absorbed shock after shock, every hit feeding him more power.
“Come on, Big Green!” Reckless (Dally) mocked. “Hit me again!”
And outside the lab, things weren’t better. Explosions ripped the Helicarrier, engines whining like they were about to die. Over comms, Coulson was shouting about sabotage.
I blurred out into the corridor, zipping past smoke and fire, and spotted him, Hawkeye, perched like death at the end of the hall, bow drawn.
“Clint, don’t do this!” Natasha’s voice snapped over the comms.
He didn’t even blink. Arrow loosed, explosive tip. I bolted, snatched it mid-air, but it detonated in my hand anyway, heat blistering my palm as the blast knocked me back through a doorway.
“That’s gonna bruise,” I muttered, coughing smoke.
Breaker (Steve) came running down the hall, one hand raised. The engines around us groaned, then settled. He was holding the gears steady with his mind, keeping the bird in the air.
“Pulse (Soda)!” Breaker (Steve) called. “Find Loki! He’s making his move.”
Sure enough, the god of mischief was walking free, smooth as ever. I caught sight of him through a shattered window, staff in hand, grin smug enough to make my teeth grind. He strolled past the chaos like he was walking a runway.
“Show-off,” I spat, darting after him.
But Loki had planned this too well, with traps in every corner. A flash of light, a trick duplicate, and I almost smashed into a bulkhead. He slipped away, and by the time I got back on my feet, the alarms were blaring about “containment breach.”
Back in the lab, things went from bad to worse.
Thor was there now, wrestling the Hulk across the floor, Mjolnir ringing against green skin like a war drum. Hulk roared, the ship rattled, and Pony screamed as the wave of rage nearly dropped him. Atlas (Darry) and Reckless (Dally) waded back in, trying to keep civilians clear, while Jokester (Two-Bit) shouted encouragements that made zero sense but somehow kept Hulk stumbling the wrong way.
Ash (Johnny) darted to me, face smeared in ash.
“This ship’s not gonna stay in the sky unless we fix those engines!” Ash (Johnny) said nervously.
He was right. Hulk was a problem, but the whole damn Helicarrier was about to fall out of the sky.
I zipped down to the hangar bay with Breaker (Steve) and Natasha, smoke choking the air. One engine was completely fried, but the other sputtered like it had a chance.
“We need that turbine turning again!” Breaker (Steve) barked.
“I’ll handle the parts!” Breaker (Steve) added, gripping the gears with his mind, holding them steady.
I blurred up the gantry, dodging gunfire from Loki’s goons. Arrows rained from Clint’s perch, but Natasha finally got through, literally. I watched her tackle him off the catwalk, fists flying, fighting to snap him out of Loki’s hold.
“Bout time,” I muttered, then zipped into the turbine chamber. The blades were jammed. I grabbed a bent panel, shoved with everything I had, and the engine roared back to life just as Breaker (Steve) slammed the last bolt into place with his mind.
The ship steadied. Barely.
By the time I got back topside, everything was smoke and silence. Hulk had been blasted off the Helicarrier, crashing who-knows-where below. Thor was missing, probably dropped with him. Natasha was panting beside Clint, who looked groggy but free. Pony was slumped against Darry, drained from holding shields for too long. Johnny hovered close, ash swirling like a guard dog.
And Loki? Gone. Slipped right through our fingers.
I wiped blood off my lip, breathing hard.
“Hell of a family reunion,” I muttered.
Nobody laughed this time.