The Once and Future Heroes

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I didn't do any major renovations, but there were a few things that I wanted to clean up. :D

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A girl with long dark red hair in a braid and caramel eyes named Kayla stirred her hot chocolate before taking a sip. Across from her sat her friend Olivia who had long pale blonde hair in a low bun with two decretive chop sticks with tassels hanging from it and burgundy eyes who had just taken a treat from a plate of hot pastries that sat in front of them.

They were in Stuttgart capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany on vacation before they would go job hunting after just finishing up college. They had gone to the opera and just taken in the scenery, but they were far from just normal girls.

Kayla a.k.a. Excalibur and Olivia a.k.a. Avalon were not normal girls. Kayla was the youngest descendant of King Arthur and holder of the sword Excalibur, Olivia was the youngest descendant of Merlin and holder of the staff of Avalon.

Excalibur's blade was made of the purest silver metal while the handle was made of pure gold endowed with magic to cut through anything and enhance its holder's abilities. Dark brown leather was wrapped around the hilt and a circle ornament was on the bottom of the hilt with the symbol of a dragon etched into it that had ruby eyes.

Olivia's staff was gold and had a mystic fire topaz crystal on the top surrounded by four thin plates that formed a spear head over the crystal. Etched around the handle of the staff was a dragon. The base of the staff was rounded off with a large opal pearl.

"I think this hot chocolate right here is the thing I will miss most about Stuttgart." Kayla said taking another sip of her drink.

"You would." Olivia said. "I don't know how you can take in so many calories and not gain a pound."

"The same way we both do, exercise like crazy." Kayla said making air quotes when she said exercise. She didn't want to alert anyone to who they really were.

"It's been really quiet lately." Olivia remarked, nibbling on a pastry.

"Don't jinx it." Kayla snapped. "We haven't had this much of a free run in a long time."

Suddenly hordes of people came running out of the museum from across the street yelling at the top of their lugs. Kayla looked at Olivia with a fake glare.

"Do you see what you did?" Kayla said and Olivia smiled sheepishly. They got up and walked over to some of the people that had run out.

"Hey what's going on?" Kayla asked as she grabbed one of the men running by.

"That man just killed the curator of the museum." He said pointing to the last man to come out of the museum before running away again.

He walked at a leisurely pace and a gold shimmer surrounded him transforming his clothes to a strange sort of armor complete with a helmet that had long horns coming from it. He raised a staff her held in his hand and shot a police car that was coming toward him causing it to crash as copies of him surrounded the crowd caroling them.

"Kneel before me." He commanded but no one moved whether out of fear or rebellion was anyone's guess.

"Well that can't be good." Olivia said as she cracked her knuckles. The girls made their way to the center of the crowd and stopped next to an elderly man.

"I said…" He brought his staff down hard and a flash of blue light emerged from the top. "KNEEL."

Kayla and Olivia kneeled as well waiting for the opportune moment to attack without getting people injured if possible.

"Is not this simpler; is this not your natural state? It is the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power for identity. You were made to be ruled." He said with a sick smile. "In the end you will always kneel."

Kayla was about to stand, but an elderly man beat her to it.

"Not to men like you." He said. Kayla and Olivia stood up next to the man as they discreetly formed their weapons behind their backs.

"There are no men like me." The man replied eyeing them with a smirk as he switched his staff from one hand to the other.

"There are always men like you." The elderly man said evenly, head held high in defiance. Kayla put a free hand on his shoulder, her sword still hidden behind her back.

"We've overcome them before, the same will happen to you." Kayla said and Olivia nodded in agreement.

"Look to them people, let them be an example." The man charged his weapon and the girls got ready to block, but to their shock a man in a red white and blue outfit fell in front of them and blocked the charge with his shield. It bounced off of the shield and hit the man to the ground.

"That can't be, isn't he supposed to be dead?" Kayla asked quietly, instantly recognizing the red, white, and blue clad figure.

"Maybe it's his replacement or something." Olivia guessed with a shrug.

"You know the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else we ended up disagreeing." Captain America as they all knew him to be said.

"The soldier, a man out of time." The other man said as he stood up.

"I'm not the one out of time." Captain America replied as she ship came down out of the sky and hovered above them.

"Ok maybe he's not a replacement." Olivia said. "He must have a very interesting story."

"Something tells me a fight is about to break out. Keep the people safe and get them out of here, let me deal with antelope boy." Kayla ordered as Olivia nodded twirling her staff.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." A voice from the ship ordered.

"They just have all sorts of neat toys." Kayla said. Loki fired in retaliation, but Olivia jumped up and used her spear to block it, much to the surprise of all those around.

"That wasn't very nice." Olivia commented landing lightly in a crouched position before standing back up holding her staff aloft as she wagged her finger at Loki like she was scolding a child. Loki looked shocked for a moment and made to fire again, but a shield to his face stopped him.

"Avalon, get these people out of here." Kayla ordered again and Olivia took off to do her job. Captain America charged Loki and started to fight, but was thrown back by a hit from Loki's staff. Kayla rushed in with her sword and engaged Loki in battle as Olivia got the people out of the area. The air was filled with the sound of metal on metal as the fight continued.

"Who are you?" Loki demanded as they came to a standstill weapons locked.

"I'm Excalibur." Kayla said as she thrust the hilt of her sword into his stomach causing him to stumble back. He let out a growl of frustration and Kayla was then thrown back by a blast from Loki's weapon sending her into a nearby light pole causing it to dent.

Loki advanced on her while she was disoriented when Captain America threw his shield again, but Loki knocked it away while Kayla stood shakily to her feet and shook her head to clear the cobwebs. Captain ran forward and engaged him in hand to hand combat. Loki gained the upper hand with a side swipe sending Captain to the ground. Loki walked over to him and placed the end of his staff against Captains head.

"Kneel." Loki hissed pushing down on the staff. Kayla quickly rushed at Loki Excalibur raised.

"I don't think so." Kayla said as she knocked Loki staff away with her sword and Captain performed a round house kick knocking Loki back.

"Not today." Captain said.

Kayla and the Captain fought side by side with Loki. The two of them fought well together, blocking blows meant for the other. It was like an intricate dance, but Loki was gaining the upper hand. Suddenly rock music, Shoot to Kill by ACDC, was blasted from the speakers of the plane causing them to pause in confusion for a moment.

"What the heck?" Kayla said, and then they spotted it, Ironman speeding towards them, then using his stabilizers as he landed he shot Loki back into some nearby stairs. Ironman landed hard on the ground causing it to crack under his weight, then stood up as all sorts of weapons popped up all over his armor.

"Make a move a reindeer games." Ironman said as he pointed everything at Loki. Kayla and the captain came up and stood next to him looking down at Loki who slowly lifted his arms in surrender as his armor disappeared. "Good move."

"Mr. Stark." Captain said.

"Captain." Stark replied.

"Oh, cool, its Ironman." Olivia said as she ran up to them staff still in hand.

"Yes it's very cool." Stark replied as the plane landed allowing Natasha to come over.

"Who are you two?" Natasha snapped.

"Excalibur and Avalon." Kayla said pointing to each of them in turn.

"Let's get him on board and Director Fury wants to talk to you two." Natasha said. Stark and Captain grabbed Loki and took him to the ship.

"Who?" Kayla asked.

"He runs S.H.I.E.L.D. an agency that protects the earth." Natasha said.

"Well thanks, but no thanks." Olivia said.

"I'm sorry, but it wasn't a request." Natasha said as she placed her hand on her gun holster. Kayla looked from Natasha over to where Loki was being loaded into the plane. Something real big was going down.

"You think that's going…" Olivia started to say as he staff glowed bright, but Kayla cut her off.

"We'll come." Kayla said.

"What?!" Olivia asked.

"Something big is going down and we might be needed." Kayla said as a sheath for her sword formed on her back and she placed Excalibur in it. Olivia let out a frustrated sigh and followed Kayla to the jet as Kayla pulled out her phone.

"Who are you calling?" Natasha asked suspiciously.

"Crystal's Kennel, they're watching Robin, my pet wolf dog. I'm calling to tell them that we had a family emergency and see if they can watch him a little longer while we're gone." Natasha nodded as Kayla went on her way.

"Well there goes our vacation." Olivia said as she crossed her arms with a glare at Loki.

"You'll be compensated for all expenses." Natasha said as she led them to the plane.

"Whatever." Olivia said as she walked onto the jet a plopped down next to Loki. "So what's your malfunction?" Loki gave her a confused look. Olivia sighed heavily then clarified. "Why are you attacking earth?"

"I will tell you nothing." He said as they took off into the air.

"Ow, my feelings." Olivia said in a bored monotone voice as she rolled her eyes.

"Making a new friend I see." Kayla said as walked by them pausing for a moment. Loki was becoming bewildered as to why these two girls didn't seem troubled by whom he was at all.

"Yep, we're planning our first sleepover right now." Olivia replied with fake giddiness while clapping her hands together like a child before slumping back in her bored slouch. Kayla laughed and walked up to the front of the ship.

"You do know that I'm the bad guy right?" Loki said with an arched eyebrow.

"So? You're not doing a lot evil right now." Olivia said with a lazy shrug. "Anyways lots of people were evil before they became good."

"Oh and that's what you want to do with me? Save me?" He laughed humorlessly.

"What makes you think you can't be?" Olivia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I don't want to be." He replied with an evil smirk.

"Well we don't always get what we want do we?" Olivia said as she leaned back and closed her eyes while Loki starred at her out of the corner of his eye.