Can't See the Truth
Chapter 04
Two weeks later
Loki walked into the kitchen to see the good captain sitting at the dining room table with a few papers in his hand. Steve didn't seem to notice that the god of mischief was in the same room and watching him.
“You seem troubled,” Loki said quietly.
Steve didn’t even jump. “Do...do you know what it’s like to be...betrayed? To be lied to...?”
Loki didn’t respond right away. He had known what betrayal felt like, he experienced each day of his punishment on Asgard. He knew lies better than anyone, but he knew their sting as well. “Yes,” he finally said, sitting down across from his captain. “My so-called father lied to me for most of my life, saying I was his son. The truth of the matter was that I was a bargaining chip to be used at a later time. After you had defeated me, I was sent back to Asgard for punishing. Each day, I felt betrayed by brother. Eventually, I learned that Thor had not betrayed me. Instead, he was doing me a service. After long, I realized where the truth of my betrayal laid. It laid with a father that now has made peace with me.”
“Did it hurt, though? How did you make it through?”
“The thing I am more concerned about, my captain, is why you are asking me such questions.”
Steve sighed, crumpling the edges of the papers slightly. “These,” he said, offering them to Loki.
Loki took them gingerly and examined them. They were notes. One from Tony and one from Bruce.
Hey babe,
Just going to check up on Hetalia. I promise I’ll be home in a few hours, at most. Don’t worry about me, okay?
Love you.
-Tony
Cap,
Heading out to do some shopping. Won’t take too long. Call if you need anything.
-Bruce
Loki looked at Steve, noticing for the first time the worry and sadness on his face. “You think they left together?”
“No, I know they did,” Steve corrected. “I asked JARVIS, and of course he wouldn’t lie to me.”
That’s when Steve started crying. “Why would he do this to me? I thought...I thought this stupid wedding band meant something to him!”
Loki mumbled a calming spell under his breath, allowing the captain to breath easily. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it has something to do with Antoinette. I don’t believe he would just stand by and go breaking his vows while his daughter was in crucial condition.”
“Then why didn’t he just tell me so?! I mean, I would’ve understood if he was doing things for her! I would’ve even tried to help as much as I could.”
Loki couldn’t tell him anything else. It was mostly because he didn’t know what to say. Never before had he been so lost for words.
****
Tony walked into a small conference room to see a tall, thin fire-red haired woman. Her face was beautiful, not unlike Pepper.
“Can I help you with something?” he asked as the woman smoothed out her yellow blouse over her black and grey striped skirt.
“Mr. Stark?” she asked, voice thick with an accent that reminded him of JARVIS; british with a hint of technology. “I’m here on the behalf of Roman Christos.”
“And who are you?”
“CHERI.”
“Cheri? Interesting name.”
“Don’t be silly, Mr. Stark. You know better than that. Competent Human-Ethics Robotic Interface.”
“You’re Roman’s AI?” he asked excitedly. “I’m very impressed!”
“Don’t be. I’m basically JARVIS in a body.”
“Wait, are you directly linked to Roman?”
“Yes. That is how I’m effectively communicating with you.”
Tony nodded. “So Roman wanted to tell me some stuff?”
“Yes,” she said, sitting in one of the chairs and offering Tony the seat across from her. “Roman wanted to tell you what it is exactly that your daughter and your friend are suffering from.”
Tony sat down and leaned forward slightly. “Please, do tell.”
“What Dr. Banner said to you in the lab was true, this thing is designed to be unstoppable. By the way, you can thank JARVIS for that tidbit of information.”
Tony rolled his eyes until what she had said sunk in. “Designed?”
CHERI nodded. “Back in 1976, Gregor Romanoff was working with some other scientists from across the world to create the perfect weapon. The group settled on a form of biological warfare, creating the equations and algorithms in their labs in Chernobyl. In 1980, after four years of slaving, they finally had the perfect system. Some of the group brought it to a UN meeting, showing what they had made. It was an even split between the council on whether or not to take it to formula. If the senior Romanoff had been there, the monstrosity would have remained an equation and he would’ve avoided the nuclear accident to take place in 1984.
“A small group among those at the UN decided they would make a small amount of the virus for propaganda and protection reasons. They thought it would make the most amazing nuclear deterrent. They brought the whole thing to formula successfully to a point. About halfway through their testings, the British stepped in and demanded that they stop while they were ahead before it got out of hand. They promised to finish it and then bury it so it would never be found. They finished without a single accident and called it The Weapon.
“While they were working on reverse engineering The Weapon for a cure, one person made a silly mistake. The air locks between clean rooms and rooms where testings were being conducted were operated on a three step system. First, the door from which you came would lock behind you, engaging the air-tight seal. Second, the air in the lock would be vacuumed out of the chamber. Then, air from the room you were about to enter would fill the chamber and the door would open.
“The man who made the whole thing fall apart forgot to vacuum out the air and just waltzed into the clean room, infecting anyone who didn’t have a hazmat suit on. The whole facility was shut down completely, until one day when an agent from the Barronov Underground was sent there. The incident was on purpose, but not by Barronov’s orders. He had nothing to do with it. It was some higher-up that wanted to be higher up.
“The girl, unfortunately, died upon her return home. It was when Hetalia was called in to identify her body that she was infected. You see, the virus will continue to live in dead bodies until there is no more body to live in. Hetalia caught it from her dead friend.”
“So when they told us that the cure was a prototype-”
“They meant it entirely.”
Tony nodded, silently weighing the whole story. “Has this so-called cure been tested on anyone else?”
“Fifty people, excluding the young Romanoff, were tested. Forty-eight survived and got well.”
“Forty-eight out of fifty?” Tony echoed. “What happened to the other two?”
“One died of a heart attack due to the stress his vascular system was put under when he suffered one previously in his sickness. The other had something wrong with his brain. He killed himself after going insane.”
“He went insane? How? Why?”
CHERI shrugged. “I’m not sure, Mr. Stark. He was obsessed with the name of his future ruler, or so he claimed. He said he could see the future and this man was to be their king.”
“Was it a name that anyone recognized?”
CHERI looked down at her high-heel shoes. “I’m not authorized to tell you.”
Tony leaned forward. “Not authorized?”
“It’s in my protocol. Mr. Christos made it clear that, if the question should come up in conversation, I am not to answer it.”
“Well that’s some bullshit!” Tony barked, leaning back in his chair. “Roman promised to give me all the information I needed.”
“Mr. Christos does not believe that it is needed information.”
“I just want to know why you’re hiding it from me.”
“Because it will register on an emotional level, Mr. Stark!” CHERI shouted.
Tony cocked his head to the side, staring at the AI. “You just yelled at me.”
“Yes, Mr. Stark,” she said with an irritated tone.
“And now you sound irritated. You have feelings.”
“I am an interface, Mr. Stark. I do not have emotions. They are random bits of code to make me seem more human.”
“No no, that’s JARVIS. He had bits of code to make him seem more human, but he doesn’t have emotions aside from sass. You have real feelings.”
“That does not make me human.”
“I disagree. Anytime I mention JARVIS, you get slightly red in the face.” As a blush started to form on CHERI’s cheeks, Tony pointed at her face. “There, see? You’ve got a crush on him.”
“I don’t see what you hope to accomplish by making me seem more human.”
“You’re human enough to understand what my whole family is going through by having Hetalia and Toni sick.”
“The name won’t give any kind of insight into how to help them or how they got sick.”
“But it has some kind of emotional tie.”
“Mr. Christos-”
“Yeah, I know. Shut up, Roman. Let her be a little human for a while. Taking her off the link for her stay here. She can come to the Tower with me and hang out in the lab with JARVIS for a while. Don’t worry, I play parental supervision.”
CHERI paused, staring down at her shoes. She nodded once. “He said he’ll take me off the link for a week, so long as I behave myself.”
“I’m sure she will, Mr. Christos.”
Within a minute of the words leaving Tony’s mouth, Roman disconnected his link with CHERI, leaving her totally on her own free will.
“Now can you tell me the name?”
CHERI gave a nod. “But you have to remember that it doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen for sure.”
“Yeah, I understand that. What’s the name?”
“The name of the would-be-king is Jensen Odinson.”
Loki walked into the kitchen to see the good captain sitting at the dining room table with a few papers in his hand. Steve didn't seem to notice that the god of mischief was in the same room and watching him.
“You seem troubled,” Loki said quietly.
Steve didn’t even jump. “Do...do you know what it’s like to be...betrayed? To be lied to...?”
Loki didn’t respond right away. He had known what betrayal felt like, he experienced each day of his punishment on Asgard. He knew lies better than anyone, but he knew their sting as well. “Yes,” he finally said, sitting down across from his captain. “My so-called father lied to me for most of my life, saying I was his son. The truth of the matter was that I was a bargaining chip to be used at a later time. After you had defeated me, I was sent back to Asgard for punishing. Each day, I felt betrayed by brother. Eventually, I learned that Thor had not betrayed me. Instead, he was doing me a service. After long, I realized where the truth of my betrayal laid. It laid with a father that now has made peace with me.”
“Did it hurt, though? How did you make it through?”
“The thing I am more concerned about, my captain, is why you are asking me such questions.”
Steve sighed, crumpling the edges of the papers slightly. “These,” he said, offering them to Loki.
Loki took them gingerly and examined them. They were notes. One from Tony and one from Bruce.
Hey babe,
Just going to check up on Hetalia. I promise I’ll be home in a few hours, at most. Don’t worry about me, okay?
Love you.
-Tony
Cap,
Heading out to do some shopping. Won’t take too long. Call if you need anything.
-Bruce
Loki looked at Steve, noticing for the first time the worry and sadness on his face. “You think they left together?”
“No, I know they did,” Steve corrected. “I asked JARVIS, and of course he wouldn’t lie to me.”
That’s when Steve started crying. “Why would he do this to me? I thought...I thought this stupid wedding band meant something to him!”
Loki mumbled a calming spell under his breath, allowing the captain to breath easily. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it has something to do with Antoinette. I don’t believe he would just stand by and go breaking his vows while his daughter was in crucial condition.”
“Then why didn’t he just tell me so?! I mean, I would’ve understood if he was doing things for her! I would’ve even tried to help as much as I could.”
Loki couldn’t tell him anything else. It was mostly because he didn’t know what to say. Never before had he been so lost for words.
****
Tony walked into a small conference room to see a tall, thin fire-red haired woman. Her face was beautiful, not unlike Pepper.
“Can I help you with something?” he asked as the woman smoothed out her yellow blouse over her black and grey striped skirt.
“Mr. Stark?” she asked, voice thick with an accent that reminded him of JARVIS; british with a hint of technology. “I’m here on the behalf of Roman Christos.”
“And who are you?”
“CHERI.”
“Cheri? Interesting name.”
“Don’t be silly, Mr. Stark. You know better than that. Competent Human-Ethics Robotic Interface.”
“You’re Roman’s AI?” he asked excitedly. “I’m very impressed!”
“Don’t be. I’m basically JARVIS in a body.”
“Wait, are you directly linked to Roman?”
“Yes. That is how I’m effectively communicating with you.”
Tony nodded. “So Roman wanted to tell me some stuff?”
“Yes,” she said, sitting in one of the chairs and offering Tony the seat across from her. “Roman wanted to tell you what it is exactly that your daughter and your friend are suffering from.”
Tony sat down and leaned forward slightly. “Please, do tell.”
“What Dr. Banner said to you in the lab was true, this thing is designed to be unstoppable. By the way, you can thank JARVIS for that tidbit of information.”
Tony rolled his eyes until what she had said sunk in. “Designed?”
CHERI nodded. “Back in 1976, Gregor Romanoff was working with some other scientists from across the world to create the perfect weapon. The group settled on a form of biological warfare, creating the equations and algorithms in their labs in Chernobyl. In 1980, after four years of slaving, they finally had the perfect system. Some of the group brought it to a UN meeting, showing what they had made. It was an even split between the council on whether or not to take it to formula. If the senior Romanoff had been there, the monstrosity would have remained an equation and he would’ve avoided the nuclear accident to take place in 1984.
“A small group among those at the UN decided they would make a small amount of the virus for propaganda and protection reasons. They thought it would make the most amazing nuclear deterrent. They brought the whole thing to formula successfully to a point. About halfway through their testings, the British stepped in and demanded that they stop while they were ahead before it got out of hand. They promised to finish it and then bury it so it would never be found. They finished without a single accident and called it The Weapon.
“While they were working on reverse engineering The Weapon for a cure, one person made a silly mistake. The air locks between clean rooms and rooms where testings were being conducted were operated on a three step system. First, the door from which you came would lock behind you, engaging the air-tight seal. Second, the air in the lock would be vacuumed out of the chamber. Then, air from the room you were about to enter would fill the chamber and the door would open.
“The man who made the whole thing fall apart forgot to vacuum out the air and just waltzed into the clean room, infecting anyone who didn’t have a hazmat suit on. The whole facility was shut down completely, until one day when an agent from the Barronov Underground was sent there. The incident was on purpose, but not by Barronov’s orders. He had nothing to do with it. It was some higher-up that wanted to be higher up.
“The girl, unfortunately, died upon her return home. It was when Hetalia was called in to identify her body that she was infected. You see, the virus will continue to live in dead bodies until there is no more body to live in. Hetalia caught it from her dead friend.”
“So when they told us that the cure was a prototype-”
“They meant it entirely.”
Tony nodded, silently weighing the whole story. “Has this so-called cure been tested on anyone else?”
“Fifty people, excluding the young Romanoff, were tested. Forty-eight survived and got well.”
“Forty-eight out of fifty?” Tony echoed. “What happened to the other two?”
“One died of a heart attack due to the stress his vascular system was put under when he suffered one previously in his sickness. The other had something wrong with his brain. He killed himself after going insane.”
“He went insane? How? Why?”
CHERI shrugged. “I’m not sure, Mr. Stark. He was obsessed with the name of his future ruler, or so he claimed. He said he could see the future and this man was to be their king.”
“Was it a name that anyone recognized?”
CHERI looked down at her high-heel shoes. “I’m not authorized to tell you.”
Tony leaned forward. “Not authorized?”
“It’s in my protocol. Mr. Christos made it clear that, if the question should come up in conversation, I am not to answer it.”
“Well that’s some bullshit!” Tony barked, leaning back in his chair. “Roman promised to give me all the information I needed.”
“Mr. Christos does not believe that it is needed information.”
“I just want to know why you’re hiding it from me.”
“Because it will register on an emotional level, Mr. Stark!” CHERI shouted.
Tony cocked his head to the side, staring at the AI. “You just yelled at me.”
“Yes, Mr. Stark,” she said with an irritated tone.
“And now you sound irritated. You have feelings.”
“I am an interface, Mr. Stark. I do not have emotions. They are random bits of code to make me seem more human.”
“No no, that’s JARVIS. He had bits of code to make him seem more human, but he doesn’t have emotions aside from sass. You have real feelings.”
“That does not make me human.”
“I disagree. Anytime I mention JARVIS, you get slightly red in the face.” As a blush started to form on CHERI’s cheeks, Tony pointed at her face. “There, see? You’ve got a crush on him.”
“I don’t see what you hope to accomplish by making me seem more human.”
“You’re human enough to understand what my whole family is going through by having Hetalia and Toni sick.”
“The name won’t give any kind of insight into how to help them or how they got sick.”
“But it has some kind of emotional tie.”
“Mr. Christos-”
“Yeah, I know. Shut up, Roman. Let her be a little human for a while. Taking her off the link for her stay here. She can come to the Tower with me and hang out in the lab with JARVIS for a while. Don’t worry, I play parental supervision.”
CHERI paused, staring down at her shoes. She nodded once. “He said he’ll take me off the link for a week, so long as I behave myself.”
“I’m sure she will, Mr. Christos.”
Within a minute of the words leaving Tony’s mouth, Roman disconnected his link with CHERI, leaving her totally on her own free will.
“Now can you tell me the name?”
CHERI gave a nod. “But you have to remember that it doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen for sure.”
“Yeah, I understand that. What’s the name?”
“The name of the would-be-king is Jensen Odinson.”
Update soon please
2/14/15