It’s All Under Control (October 2001)

The next morning, as she remembered, the cafeteria was packed with Agents. Maria Hill appeared behind Kate in the food line with her tray. “Hey, I was wondering when you’d come back Kate. We missed you,” she said as she began to make her selections. “Phil’s completely tickled. Do you mind if I sit with you, and catch up?” She asked. Maria was, like Phil, an old-timer as far as Kate was concerned. She was a lifer too and a good, tough Agent.

“Word has it Phil’s going to show you…’it’ today,” She said with a smile then looked at the selections. “Stay clear of the meatloaf...you’ll spend half the day in the bathroom,” she murmured under her breath.

Kate didn't sleep that night. She was so used to sleeping in the same bed with Steve. She missed his scent and the feel of his strong arms embracing her and holding her. She still just couldn't believe he had broken up with her over this. That made her truly wonder if they had even been right for each other, but she had spent two years of her life with him and now it was gone. 

She finally just got up and got dressed. She had been given a SHIELD uniform again and she put it on and pulled her hair back. As she stood in line in the cafeteria to get something to eat, Maria came up behind her. She forced a little smile when Maria asked if they could catch up. "Of course." Kate highly respected and admired Maria, but with the emotional turmoil she was going through she really wanted to be alone. 

She made her selections and they sat down together at a table. "So, how have you been?" Kate asked, wanting to avoid talking about herself for as much as possible.

"Oh, hanging in there, living in a man's world," Maria said and chuckled. "I suppose Phil didn't tell you...we're a thing now," Maria said. When Kate looked up at her in surprise Maria chuckled again. "Oh, no, I'm just kidding, but you should have seen your face," she said with a laugh. "I still...have no life," Maria said as she took a sip of her coffee. And she winced as Bruce, a rather large Agent, walked by with the meatloaf. At 8am!

"Irongut....member him? Not much has changed Kate," She said, "How's Steve? Now I 'do' have questions about that! So, Steve Rogers...quite the land," she said suggestively.

Kate had just taken a sip of her coffee when Maria jokingly told her that she and Phil were an item. She nearly spit it out in her face. However, she relaxed when Maria laughed. Maria was a friend to Kate and Phil was a father figure to her. That would have been extremely difficult for her to handle. Thankfully, though, it wasn't true. However, that did lead Maria into asking her about her relationship with Steve. Kate's expression changed and she dropped her gaze down to her tray as she pushed around her eggs.

"It was...until he broke up with me yesterday."

Maria winced. "Oh...I'm sorry...I, I didn't know," Maria said. "He didn't want you to come back, did he?" she asked. "I'm so sorry Kate," Maria said and put her hand over Kate's. "If you...ever want to talk...You know where I am," she said sympathetically. Maria had one guy in her time with SHIELD and it had ended very badly. The same old story. He wanted her to quit and be the woman he needed her to be. Maria though, was a SHIELD Agent and likely always would be. She did understand.

Kate sighed and put down her fork. "We were together for two years. I was starting to look at Bridal magazines in anticipation of a proposal. I thought we were perfect together. Clearly, I was wrong about that," she said as she fought back a few tears. She wiped them away and tried to regain her composure. "I just loved him so much."

Maria didn't quite know what to say. She didn't know Steve Rogers but she knew they had been an item. She was about to ask why she had come back when Phil suddenly appeared.

"Agent Hill, Agent Blackwell, are we ready?" He asked. Maria put down her cup immediately. "Yes sir, we're ready," she said and Phil looked at Kate. "So...you ready to see it? I want you on the team to protect the Tesseract," Phil said. "But you need to know what it is to be able to do that," he added as he waited for them to get up.

Kate looked up as Phil approached the table. She listened to what he said and when he mentioned the 'Tesseract' she knew that that was the object he had been talking about the other day. She had never heard of it and had no idea what it was or what it did, but that was why she was there. The sooner she could find that information out, the quicker she could get back to the Tower. 

She stood up from the table and followed Phil and Maria to where it was being kept. "So, what exactly is it?" she asked as they walked.

"Well, we don't exactly know. It's repelled almost every test we've thrown at it. What we do know, is that it's not from here," he said as they all got into the elevator. Phil had to put his key card into the slot and then press his hand on the palm reader before the elevator began to move.

"That and it's power output has yet to be reached," Phil added. "I wasn't exaggerating when I said it was an inexhaustible form of power. It will change the world...if we can convince Nick," he said. Finally the elevator stopped and the door opened. It was a massive lab. Several armed agents nodded to them and came up to them. One handed Kate a keycard badge.

"Good morning Agent Coulson. We had 2 power spikes in the last 12 hours," he said. "But the added transformers are holding," He said with a smile. "Exellent, ladies, follow me," he said and took them to a large, round glass encasement. The Tesseract was a glowing, blue cube about 6 inches on a side. It was inside a machine of sorts and power conduits ran from the machine outward like tendrils from some kind of sea animal but more organized and uniform.

Phil rattled off some technical data about its present power output but that kind of power, he quoted, could only be duplicated by 3 nuclear power plants. And this was just a test. The cube wasn't even flinching.

Kate listened very closely to everything Phil said. She knew she would need to be thorough in what she told Tony and Isabella and she knew Tony would have questions. When the doors of the elevator opened, they stepped out into massive lab she had never been in before. There were armed agents. This was unlike anything Kate had ever experienced at SHIELD before and her suspicion that this was going to be bad kept growing. 

She accepted the keycard badge that was handed to her and glanced at Phil when the agent spoke to him about the 2 power spikes in the last 12 hours. Kate followed Phil and Maria over to a blue, glowing cube. It was almost mesmerizing and she looked more closely at the machine it was hooked up to. 

"So...this thing...the Tesseract...is from space?"

"Right you are Miss Blackwell," a voice with an English accent said from behind her. A man with long, dark hair in a dark gray suit came over to them.

"How could something so beautiful originate from this planet?" He said with an arrogant smile. His suit was perfectly tailored and he was dazzling to look at. It was then that Kate suddenly realized there were several Agents nearby them.

"I want to thank you Agent Coulson for bring Miss Blackwell here to help us," The man said. And then he suddenly began to change. As he did Kate was suddenly grappled by the two very large strong Agents though Maria's hand was on her as well.

"I noticed this on her right away," she said as she removed her wrist communicator.

The hairs on the back of Kate's neck suddenly stood up as a man approached her from behind. She turned around to see a man with long, dark hair in a dark gray suit. Something about him was eerily familiar and as he suddenly began to change she felt several pairs of hands grab her. She was horrified to realize that Maria had grabbed her as well. She looked up at Loki and glared at him.

"I knew you were behind all of this!"

Loki's suit changed into his Asgardian outfit. Horned helm included. "You knew and you came anyway? Well, I can promise you, you will be much more use to us than them," He said as he lifted up his staff. He touched her with it and for a moment her mind fought to retain control over itself. She rebuffed his power to take over her mind.

"Oh, a strong mind, I respect that. But you humans are such simple creatures. The people that held her felt her fight with them. To try and pull away as Loki's staff touched her chest.

It was like a a cool, splash of water over her as the warmth of those she held dear began to fade from her heart. Steve was the last to go but he did go and what was left was a numb indifference to everyone and everything she knew.

Loki removed his staff. "Miss Hill return her device. I think she will send them a text. Everything is as Phil suggested, aren't they Miss Blackwell?" Loki asked.

Kate looked over at Phil and her heart broke as she realized that he had been controlled by Loki this whole time. She felt the tip of Loki's staff touch her, but she fought back with everything she had against his control and the grip of those who were holding her. However, when he touched her the second time, she felt her strength start to weaken and an odd feeling started to come over her. She felt her cares for everyone start to vanish. She panicked and struggled to hold on to her love for Steve, but even that slipped away from her. When it was complete, she stood there a heartless SHIELD agent ready to serve.

"Yes, they are," she responded to Loki as she took back her wrist communicator. She sent a text to Tony and Isabella that read: Phil is on the level. He needs our help.

Isabella was actually rather surprised by Kate's text. After everything they all had discussed and from what Kate had been saying about what Phil had told her, it had sounded like it was going to be bad. She texted back: Ok. When are you coming back to the Tower? But never got a response back from Kate...

And so they had another meeting that afternoon. When Steve had heard what she said he cringed as if he were in pain and closed his eyes. He shook his head. "That's not her. I mean, it is but she's under some kind of duress," He said plainly.

"How do you know?" Frank asked and Steve looked at him. He had an angry, defiant look in his eyes.

"Because we were watching these 80s cops shows. And 'Is on the level' was a line from one of those movies. It was a snitch, a criminal the police used to entrap other criminals and he was trying to get his criminal friends to agree to a drug deal. He used that phrase alot and it was always a lie," He said.

"So...in some subconscious way, she's telling us, what?" Ava asked. "That's she's in trouble," Tony said with a sigh. "I know this is what you feared Steve but we needed to know one way or another. Now we do know and she'll likely be feeding us dis-information if she's been compromised. Now the question is, can we say with certainty, that it's Loki?" He asked around the table.

Isabella started to become incredibly worried about her friend after Steve explained that what she had actually been trying to tell them was that she was in trouble. However, they couldn't know if she had been compromised, or if she had been forced to say what she had said. And they still didn't know what it was that SHIELD had. 

Isabella sighed and rubbed her head. "No, I don't think we can say with absolute certainty that it is Loki, but I know in my heart that it is. And if he's compromised Kate, then we can probably say that both Nick and Phil have been compromised as well."

Steve crossed his arms and looked at everyone with an angry look in his eyes. "Well I hope you're all happy! Kate's likely been taken prisoner!" He burst out and slammed his hand down on the table. "Now we'll likely have to fight her as well! I told you! I told you and nobody listened! We could have gone there in force and demanded to see what it was they were doing!" Steve said angrily as he stood up and he glared at Tony. His eyes had gone moist and his fought to keep control of his emotions. "I hope you're all happy with her sacrifice," Steve said in a softer tone. And his eyes were laden with unshed tears as he stalked back to his room. He opened and slammed the door.

Steve knew that if she was compromised, they had to get Loki or disable Kate without doing anything permanent. He felt those were the only ways to get her back but he knew he couldn't do this alone. He would try but he knew it was a fools errand.

-------------------

"He's wrong, now we go in knowing what we're facing," Frank said. "That was Kate's sacrifice. She's a soldier, she knew the risks and did her duty. Now though, what do we do? This is SHIELD's base. AND Loki. Nick, Phil, the whole gang that we're up against," Frank said.

Tony had been looking at his phone. He had made the wrist communicators to be two way devices. But Kate's was a new prototype. It had a few more abilities but he hadn't really tested them. One such little gadget was a tiny drone, no larger than the head of an eraser or a small gnat or fly. It could be fired from the wrist band and controlled remotely. That's what he had just done but he was having trouble getting the drone to move. Like there was some interference. He had a picture from where the drone landed and he changed the view to the widest angle it could have. The lab was huge and he could see only part of the round, containment area that housed the Tesseract. The blue glow was visible though. And so was some of the components around it.

Tony patched his phone into the large projector screen and it suddenly turned on and showed what he was seeing. He saw Isabella's troubled look and she was looking at Steve's door. "Isabella, we've got more important things to think about right now. I'm connected to her Micro Drone," He said.

Isabella felt torn about Kate. It had been Kate's choice to do this and ultimately Isabella knew that Kate was the only one who could have gotten this deep into SHIELD. However, Isabella was a mother and protective of those in the Tower and knowing that Kate was being controlled by Loki was not a pleasant thought for her. She winced as she heard Steve's door slam shut. She had never seen Steve this upset before and she knew it was all because he loved Kate. 

She heard Tony's voice and she sighed and turned away and looked back towards the projector screen. She studied the image on the screen closely.

"What is that?"

"Well that's Erik Selvig over there," Tony said as he moved up to the screen and pointed to him. And these are energy conduits," Tony said and saw that no one knew what he was talking about. "Large groups of energy cables banded together and sealed so that they can transfer massive amounts of power through them. But from what I can see this thing IS indeed distributing power. I wish I could get the drone to move," he said but it just laid there like a dead bug.

"It could be a power distribution system but, I don't recognize some of these components. What are you doing Erik..." Tony said introspectively.

Isabella decided to leave Tony and the others there to watch the drone footage while she went to the kitchen and made some tea. She went down to Steve's room and knocked lightly on the door before walking in. She shut the door behind her. 

"I thought perhaps you might like some tea," she said gently before handing him the cup. 


Ava looked at Tony. "Is there any way to reboot the drone? Maybe then we can get it to move."

"Its whatever is going on in there. It's interfering with the signal. We'll have to wait until they shut it all down before I can get this thing to move," Tony explained.

Steve was on his his couch with Kate's favorite pillow she liked to lay on when they watched tv. Steve loved baseball and Kate loved crime shows. He really did love Kate. He knew that but he knew he could not take another loss. And now...now he didn't know what to do.

He looked up as Isabella came in. He nodded to her. "Thank you," Steve said as he excepted the cup from her. He took a sip then set the cup down and set the pillow aside.

"They've got her Isabella. She's going to help them with whatever nefarious plan Loki has up his sleeve. He knows we're making plans to come to them. I feel as if...as If I've lost her," Steve said in a strained voice. She would see his throat convulse as he held back the emotion that welled up inside of him. "I...picked out a ring...I didn't buy it yet, I didn't know her finger size. I was...going to talk to you about that...soonish," Steve said defeatedly.

Isabella's heart broke as she listened to Steve. She sighed and sat on the couch next to him. "Steve, about a year ago you said something to me about Kate that I've never forgotten. You told me that the reason you loved her was because she wasn't afraid to do the right thing...even if it meant sacrificing herself. In that way, you and Kate are a lot alike. Kate knew something bad was going on and that Phil would only show it to her. If we had all gone down there in force we would have been attacked and likely all of us would be under Loki's control right now. Kate is alive and we still have an opportunity to save her. Don't give up on her just yet. However, if we're going to do this we need to act as a team. None of us intended for this to happen to her, but it's a risk that comes with the job."

"I can't lose her Isabella. I just can't!" Steve said and got up off the couch. He began to pace. "We've both lost so much...She's a part of me Isabella. A big part. She makes the sky blue and the flowers bloom inside me. Without here...there's just dust and desolation. I need her Isabella," Steve said.

Isabella wanted to ask Steve then why he had broken up with her, but she held her tongue and decided against it. He was upset enough as it was. However, a part of her wondered it was going to be easy to repair their relationship. Kate had been extremely upset when he had ended things with her, but Steve and Kate would have to cross that bridge themselves when they got to it.

"Ok, then you need to fight to get her back. We need to work as a team."

"If we were unwilling to go enforce before, why is that even an option now? This is what I don't understand!" Steve said forcefully.