Well, helleu there!
Here's chapter 2!
I'm actually working on chapter 5 right now. The reason I haven't uploaded this chapter for weeks is because I was waiting for my bèta to respond, but she didn't :(. So, if there are any mistakes - I'm sorry! :(
xox

2. Bermuda Triangle.

"El, are you absolutely sure this isn't one of your damned hallucinations?"
Elliot puffed up his cheeks in dismay. "Yes, I am sure."
"So, that's it then - phase 2 are weapons," Sammy repeated his earlier words. She emphasized each word to see if it would sink in. It didn't.
"But why would they keep it from us if they were just weapons?" Jolene asked, having trouble wrapping her head around Elliot's story. They were all sitting at their table in the canteen when Elliot had stormed up to them with an empty tray and a wild spark in his eyes. "I know what phase 2 is!" He nearly shouted all through Michael's story about the one time when his dog had eaten four pairs of socks. A couple annoyed soldiers turned their heads. "I know what phase 2 is," Elliot whispered again. He slapped his tray on the table and squeezed in between Jolene and Sammy. They scooted over and took their trays with half-eaten food with them.
"I was transporting new parts for Stark's suit when these soldiers walk past me with huge suitcases that had 'phase 2' printed on them in big red letters. I decided to follow them," he told them without bothering to breathe while doing so, "the one controlling the trolley bumped into the wall and one suitcase fell open and a massive gun rolls out of it. So, that's it then - phase 2 are weapons."
It took them a couple of blinks to respond and that's when they started to question Elliot's sight. After a couple of minutes, though, they started to play around with the idea that just maybe he was telling the truth.
"If that's the case," Jolene eventually said, "then we have to know what they know."
"Remember what Loki said?" Michael suddenly spoke up. He had been sulking at the opposite side of Jolene, pricking his lasagna with a fork.
Everyone kind of shrugged - Loki had been saying a lot lately and they were growing restless with every uttered taunt.
"'A warm light for all mankind to share'. He knows more than we do," Michael reminded them. He hated going against regimes but this was getting too suspicious.
"Whose turn is it to guard Loki tonight?"
"Mine," Jolene sighed.
"Great, you and-?" Jolene saw the plan forming on Elliot's face.
"Amber," she said with some caution and took a sip of her coffee. It had been sitting on the tray besides her pasta for quite some time now and was now an uncomfortably cold temperature. She turned the plastic cup around in her hands.
"Double great. You have to fill her in on our plan. Amber won't blab and then-".
"Elliot! This is not a goddamn spymovie!" Sammy shut him up, "listen Jo, you realise you have to be nice to that dirtbag in order to get some information out of him..."
Jolene set her cup back down. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Play the victim of big bad S.H.I.E.L.D. coorperation and something along the lines of 'you're the only one who can help us'," Jolene waved off Sammy's help and instead downed the cold coffe instead.

After dinner Jolene walked alone to her room. Sammy had taken an earlier turn to her room, exclaiming she absolutely needed to get het beauty sleep because she started to look like a mountain troll. Jolene grinned and shook her head. Her room was a couple of corridors over.
The scent that hung in her room was a mixture of a flowery scent out of an almost empty perfume bottle, old books and sleep. Clothes were hanging neatly on a rack and the blanket was folded over at the top. The room was a standard model. It had a small bedroom in it with a bed pushed against the far wall and a nightstand beside it. On the nightstand stood a single picture of her and her dad. It was taken when she was ten years old. Her dad had just made her her first bow and although she missed the target every single time, he never stopped telling her how proud he was. On the right wall was a mirror with a shelf underneath it to hold her small collection of make-up. Finally, above her bed was a bookshelf with some of the books her dad used to read and reread. Jolene's room was devoid of any decorations otherwise. It seemed pointless to stuff this cramped space full of things she would later trip over.
For a while she just stood there. There were no thoughts floating around in her head and it was comforting. Then, she kickstarted the thinking process and decided that she really needed to take a shower. Every corridor had one bathroom. It often resulted in tension, especially when the girls were busy applying every scented body lotion they had and the boys needed to pee. But that was neither here nor there at this point.

This was the fourth time Jolene descended the stairs. The fourth time she had to avoid his piercing eyes and footsteps as he retraced his path in the cage. They haven't been on speaking terms ever since he said what he said, but Loki was always a looming presence, sulking behind glass. Sometimes she would find her eyes darting over to him and he would always be staring.
Jolene made sure she got there before Amber that night – even if that meant skipping dinner. Although, Elliot did bring her a sandwich and a buttload of useless tips on how to interrogate a prisoner. Jolene had already informed Amber about extracting information from Loki, but hadn't filled her in on the details – in case she'd blab to Fury. Also, being judged by one person/god was enough stress for now. She didn't need Amber to watch her struggle.

She waited one second, two seconds, three seconds – just outside Loki's door and lifted her chin in hope to also raise her confidence somehow. Loki had already heard her and her trying-to-be-brace-footsteps, of course. He had been sitting in this cage for far too long and could now even distinguish them by their footfalls. Jolene was one of the more amusing ones, besides the lanky girl who almost fainted one time. When all he did was to state the truth. Obviously, truth was not for the faint-hearted. Loki knew he was going to get out, though, and agent Barton was the one who would help him. Whether she liked it or not. This is partly why he waited with some agitation until she opened the door.

"Good evening, Jolene," Loki started his game of cat and mouse when she had shut the door – holding the rest of the Helicarrier out of the room.
Jolene climbed the stairs in great suspicion. He had picked the perfect time to start talking again … but why was he talking? "Good evening," she replied and halted at her guarding spot.
"There's no hidden agenda behind my greeting," he stated and neared the barrier that made him a prisoner.
"You have agenda's hidden all over that cape of yours, so excuse me if I don't buy it."
"Apology accepted. Really, Jolene, you are making this far too easy for me." His sick amusement reflected in his eyes and in his smile.
Jolene opened and then closed her mouth, small bubbles of anger threatening to swim up to the surface. "Loki, I came here with a question."
"I would presume that you did."
"Not about that." Even though she would've wanted nothing more than to shove this bastard against the wall and demand the location of her father. God or not, he must have a weak spot but alas, Natasha Romanoff was assigned to find it. "What did you mean when you said 'a warm light for all mankind to share'?"
"What, is S.H.I.E.L.D. withholding information from their trusted soldiers?" He raised one eyebrow. Arrogance seemed to be a trusted friend.
"We have reasons to believe they do."
His face as if cleared up in understanding. "And this," he assisted his words with a hand gesture, "this is the infamous play in which you convince me I am the only one who could aid you in your quest for truth. This is you appealing to my human nature, I presume? Tell me, agent Barton, how hard was it for you to lay your pride so low on the ground?"
Jolene ground her teeth together. His voice entered her ears but scattered through every fiber in her body. It was cold and clung to the inside of her skin in a thin sheet of ice. "Just tell me if you're willing to provide us with information." She took an involuntary step forwards, evoked by his words.
"Ah, but here lies the problem," Loki paced tantalizingly slow in front of the glass again, seemingly pondering on a very hard dilemma, "I never give without expecting something in return."
Jolene listened to his words with growing distress.
"Are you willing to supply information to the enemy, a level one prisoner, to get what you want?"
A visual of a snake flickered through her mind. "You all but miss a split tongue. Forget it," she replied sharply.

At that moment Amber leisurely walked in, oblivious to the occurrences in this room. She noted the tension and decided not to voice her opinion on the off chance that it would cause an eruption.

"Hey, Jo, wait up!" Amber's voice squeaked but Jolene was driven by anger and stalked forwards. When the soldiers came to relieve them, Jolene all but ran from the room.
Amber's footsteps neared and soon she felt her hand on her shoulder. "What happened? Did we get anything?"
"Loki offered me a deal - an exchange of information," she fumed - although she could've expected it, but maybe she had hoped for a sliver of sun from behind the clouds.
"So, are you going to do it?" Amber lowered her voice when a couple of soldiers passed.
Jolene looked at her in disbelief. "Of course not! S.H.I.E.L.D. may keep us in the dark but that is no reason to go around betraying them!"
They walked into the locker room and placed their guns on a rack. Jolene tossed her helmet to the floor with a grunt. It bounced a couple of times before rolling under a bench. "You would think that someone so opposed to Nick Fury would be willing to cooperate."
"Loki only does things for Loki." Amber laid her own helmet down quietly. "On another note - shouldn't we inform anyone else about phase 2? Your dad was friends with the Black Widow, right? You think she'll listen?"
"I bet my ass the Avengers already know about phase 2 and Black Widow being Nick Fury's favorite, she probably helped develop phase 2..." Jolene trailed off.
"Okay, but maybe not," Amber changed into her normal clothes, "maybe Fury is hiding stuff from them too."

The Helicarrier floated amongst the stars that night. Nothing implied distress and the whirring of wind on metal resulted in vulnerability aboard. It seemed to be another sleepless night, however, in which Jolene had been staring at the same spot on her ceiling for four solid hours. Colourful bursts appeared and swam off to the corner of her eye. She had been twirling a strand of hair between her fingertips – it had caused it to tangle and the ends to fray.
With every passing day they had been losing grains of hope. Natasha had skillfully extracted Loki's game plan, but they were none the wiser. Except that apparently Bruce Banner was his ticket out. Jolene flopped around to her stomach, her ribcage pressing into the mattress with every inhale of air.
No one knew what that statement meant, but Nick Fury acted like it was the discovery of the wheel. All Jolene knew was that the soldiers were tip-toeing around dr. Banner now. Which made dr. Banner feel claustrophobic and paranoid. Jolene sighed and sat upright. The blanket slid from her upper body and her feet touched the floor. Loki's offer crept through her head constantly and Jolene quietly worried about her morals. Her eyes were drawn to the far corner of the room and her hand automatically slid underneath her pillow. She studied the shadow stretching all the way up to the ceiling. It was just a shapeless blob and should be motionless, but Jolene could detect small flickers of movement. She held on to the hilt of the dagger and stood up. There was nothing, yet she could feel a set of eyes studying her every move. Jolene stood up, calculating the best way out if attacked. Her fingers were tightly wound around the dagger and she was ready to react if something happened.

"Don't be shy now, all of a sudden," she said to the empty corner and she shadow flickered again. Jolene took a step back.
"Not shy, merely cautious." The shadow slowly detached itself from the wall and morphed slowly into a more recognizable shape. Loki was just like static from an old tv before he managed to retain a solid image.
"And for how long have you been 'cautious'?" Jolene watched the hologram take in every inch of her room before stopping at the image of her and her dad.
"A considerable amount of time. One can never be too cautious." His eyes went back to her. The blazing green triggered the subconscious flight-or-fight response.
"I-if," she corrected her voice, "if this is about the exchange of information, then you have wasted your time."
"Oh, I've got some time to spare." The corners of his lips twitched. She noticed the disappearance of Loki a split-second too late. There was no sign of breath on the nape of her neck but her goose bumps betrayed his position - she knew he was there. As he made an attempt at saying "what about you?" she had whirled around and planted her dagger into the hologram. Exactly where his heart should've been. Loki looked at the dagger penetrating his hologram with great dismay.
Jolene was panting slightly and the hand holding the dagger quivered. She looked up at his eyes and retreated. "State your terms."
"Very well. The location of my scepter in exchange for information on the dark secrets of Nick Fury."
She was still holding his stare. Jolene realized that she had no idea what this creature was thinking and she didn't like on bit of it. Surely there was a catch. Jolene ruffled her hair with one hand, a movement Loki followed with his eyes which broke the eye contact. She knew that Stark and Banner were decoding the staff, but the location was unknown to her. She didn't have the clearance to know that kind of information. Lying to the god of lies, now that's something that wasn't on her to-do list.
"Something to consider the next time you suffer from insomnia." Before Jolene could blink, her room was empty again. She looked around, almost expecting him behind her. The lamp on the night stand made her shadow a disfigured entity against the wall but other than that everything seemed normal. She eyed the corner in suspicion.

Loki didn't return that night.

Jolene found herself buried underneath a heap of blankets the next morning. The muffled sound of her alarm beeping crept inside her cocoon and she begrudgingly had to stretch out her arm to turn the darned thing off. She reached out as far as she could go without dislocating her arm but was still a couple of inches away from the destination. Next, she lifted her torso up and crawled a bit closer to the nightstand. Jolene dropped herself on her pillow with a huff and turned the obnoxious beeping off.

Finally, silence.

She turned around on her back and laid her hands on her stomach. The ceiling scowled at her and she frowned back. It had gotten harder and harder to get up in the morning. Her nerves were all coiled up from worrying, but she managed to flip the blankets aside and pick herself up. She stretched out, reaching up and stumbled over to the other end of the bed. Jolene stifled a yawn. Since she was on kitchen duty today (and that didn't require ruining outfits), she could actually wear something nice. She stubbed her toe on the bed and cursed loudly. "Battle wounds, no problem – but oh when stubbing a toe," she grumbled under her breath and hopped over to the rack where she kept her clothes. Jolene grabbed the first jeans she saw and put them on. She carelessly picked out a cardigan and moved to stand in front of the mirror. Well, this wasn't much to work with. The black bruises grew every day and by now resembled an abyss. Her guts wrenched together. She distracted herself with another sarcastic remark: was this how she greeted the god of mischief last night? "No wonder he ran off, Jo," she added while dabbing concealer underneath her eyes. She finished the routine quickly and with one glance at the clock she darted out of the room. The make-up didn't quite mask the overall feel of not-sleeping, encountering the hologram of Loki and worries, but it was a start. Now all she needed was a broad smile and she was ready to be seen.

She took a couple of breaths and perked herself up before slamming open the doors like in those Western movies. The kitchen was already alive with people running around. Jolene grabbed an apron and the schedule before Michael could spill hot water over it. "Good morning to you too," she smiled and ruffled up his hair. Michael came after her with the hot pan but she had already skidded away. Jolene read her duty for that morning and positioned herself next to two other girls. She listened in on the conversation going on beside her but the mindless prattle only lulled her into a stupor so she backed out.

After one and a half hour she was done. She took a tray someone had just cleaned and 'stole' an apple, pancakes and coffee. Jolene then swerved out of the way of a cart with plates and entered the buzzing canteen. The sun was blinding a group of girls and glistened off a puddle of water on the floor. Spirits were high for once.

Her friends had already huddled around the table, but she was looking at Stark who had just entered the canteen. He was overlooking the mess of soldiers eating like a bunch of cavemen with a frown. Here's the thing – Tony and her dad went way back. Even from before the Avengers came into view. Not that they were best friends, her dad trying to steal from Tony and all but at least they weren't hammering in on each other. Jolene broke out into a walk. She avoided him mostly, being tired from his never-ending supply of nicknames. She didn't stop at her friend's table and ignored the weird looks they threw at her back.

"Hey, Stark, does phase 2 ring a bell or two?" She asked.

Tony Stark halted his previous movements to the table he had been eyeing and turned around slowly. The generator in his chest burned bright blue through the band logo of Black Sabbath. "Only if that's a code name for something dirty."
"What?"
"What?" He repeated her and sat down, placing down his tray. "Tell me, are you still sticking your nose into other people's business?"
"Yes and I see you haven't kicked the habit either." Jolene traced his distant gaze to the table in front of them.
"Ten bucks says that the girl with the squeaky voice has an Iron Man poster in one of those broom closets you call your room."
Jolene rolled her eyes and snorted. "Phase 2 is classified information?" She tried again.
"Then consider me one big ear." His eyes shifted towards her face and he straightened up while chomping down on his sandwich.

Jolene then spent the next half an hour telling him everything she knew and then half an hour answering questions about why she was still single. With every uttered word about phase 2, Stark's eyes became brighter. He loved secrets. Especially Nick Fury's secrets. It was like the fucking Bermuda triangle when it came to them. People knew it was there but there was no evidence, no clear traces. And once you got in, you disappeared. Hardly sounded like a challenge.