Deep in the laboratories of the Avengers Tower, the alarm blared like the screams of hysterical children.
"Agent Hill, what's going on?" Steve rushed to the control room from his gym, sweat dripping from his honey gold hair.
"There's been a break-in." Agent Hill's fingers rushed over the keyboards, turning on camera and trying to track down the location. Her eyes widened in shock, as she turned to Steve "The tesseract's portal has been reactivated and our side of the Rainbow Bridge is opened. Captain, get the others quick." She pressed on her earpiece "Director, he's back."
Steve immediately understood, he rushed back to the common rooms
"Avengers!" He pounded on their doors "Assemble!" Immediately, all of the doors opened at once and ten pairs of eyes stared at him, waiting for directions "The Bifrost opened and the tesseract has been activated, which only means one thing. Loki's back."
"Clint, I need eyes up in those rafters. Nat, stealth mode and secure the exits." The assassin twins gave a swift nod and exited, Steve locked eyes with Tony "Tony, time to suit up."
"Pepper, cancel everything." Tony instructed.
"Already done, boss." Pepper gave a small smile, but she couldn't do anything to hide the worry from her eyes.
"Virgini-Pepper" Steve quickly corrected himself "Could you please assist Agents Barton and Romanoff?"
"Please be careful. Both of you, I mean it." She dashed off to help.
"And Bruce?"
Bruce Banner's head peeked out of his room "Yes, Cap?"
"Prepared to get angry."
"Brother, please. Come home." Thor pleaded, his golden hair whipping around from the portal's suction.
After the incident in New York, Thor returned Loki to Asgard and fought against his penalties. The brothers tried to repair what was left of their relationship, but Thor noticed that Loki would constantly sneak off and not return for days on end. Once he did, he wouldn't stop speaking of this boy named "Samuel" and something called a "moose".
Loki looked at his brother, eyes filled with such emotion "Broth-"
"Loki! Stop!" Steve inched forward, hands up in side of peace "Please, we mean no harm."
"Well, maybe some harm." Tony chided in "What?" He said in response to Steve's stern look.
"I'm sorry, Captain. But there is something I have to do." Loki's eyes
glanced at Thor "Brother, I'm sorry."
"Barton, visual?" Steve commanded
"I have a shot, but if I take it, I risk hitting the tesseract." Clint responded into his earpiece.
Light blinded the room as Loki stepped through the portal.
"Captain, Man of Iron, we need to step through the portal before it closes."
Steve looked at Tony for guidance "Not my call, Captain. But we're happy to follow."
Steve's mind thought a mile a minute "Alright. Barton, Romanoff, follow suit."
"Here goes nothing" Steve thought to himself as he stepped through, Avengers in tow.
The vortex instantly engulfed the team and sent them spinning and spiraling through the Bifrost to God knows where.
"Brother?!" Thor yelled as they landed, or well, crash landed.
"Guess again."
Steve opened his eyes and was greeted, not by a hand, but by the barrel of a gun.
"I didn't know they had comic-con in Sioux Falls." The shorter man chuckled out.
"I didn't know the future looked like a bad porno set." Tony grunted out, taking Bruce's hand to lift him off the ground.
"Future?" The taller man looked around "It's 2013."
"Well, that's just great. You hear that, Cap. It's the same year and the fucking psychotic maniac took us through a portal, only to dump us in a-" Tony scanned the area "fucking salvage yard!"
Steve saw Natasha and Clint slowly reach for their weapons "Agents, at ease. Tony, these men might be able to help us."
"Doubtful, but whatever." Tony muttered.
"Sirs, have you seen my brother? His name is Loki, he has black hair, of ye height, and carries the armor of Asgard." Thor questioned, stepping closer and closer.
The two men cocked their guns "Calm down there, Shakespeare. Did you say Loki?"
"You know him?" Steve asked, eyeing the two men.
"Of him, yes." The taller man replied.
"Do you mind telling us your name, son?" Steve questioned.
The two men exchanged glances and lowered their guns "Sam Winchester" He pointed to the smaller man "This is my other brother Dean. Who are you guys?"
"You seriously have no idea who I am?" Tony's voice dripped with skepticism.
Steve cleared his throat and Tony rolled his eyes "I'm Steve Rogers. These are my friends, Anthony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, and Thor Odinson."
Dean scoffed "No, seriously. Who are you?"
Tony rolled his eyes "I'm Tony fucking Stark, asshole."
"Dean, sideline."
The Avengers stared as the brother's huddled together.
"Do they think we're that stupid?"
"Dean, I think they're serious."
"Sammy, have you been drinking the kool-aid? They're insane!"
"What if we quiz them?"
"Sam-"
"If they get one question wrong, we handle it. Alright?"
Dean sighed "One question wrong, Sammy."
The brothers returned "We are going to give you a series of questions about yourselves. Get one question wrong and we shoot." Dean instructed.
"How did your parents die?" Dean looked at Tony.
"Car crash." Tony held Dean's gaze.
"Captain America's best friend?"
"Buck-James Barnes." Steve's voice slight cracked.
"This is ridiculous!" Tony finally yelled "We're wasting our time!"
"Hey, Samquatch. Brought some smoothies…" Gabriel's voice faded out "Thor?"
"That's Loki?" Bruce squinted his eyes "That looks nothing like him."
"And you must be the Jolly Green Giant." Gabriel growled "What are you doing here?"
"Taking you home to Asgard."
Sam tugged on Gabriel's jacket "They're not serious, right?"
"Walk with me, L'Oreal. We have to go over some stuff." Gabriel linked his arm through Thor's and led him through the mountain of cars.
"Is that your ride?" Tony nodded at the Impala.
"Yes, sir. I rebuilt her myself from scratch." Dean huffed with pride.
"Well, this is super embarrassing now…" Sam scratched the back of his neck "Do you guys want a beer or something? Bobby kept his fridge pretty well stocked."
"Whiskey." Tony and Dean said in unison, surprising each other.
"So, his name is Gabriel and he's a what?" Bruce asked, taking a small swig from his beer.
"An Archangel of the Lord."
"The Messenger of God, the one with the horn?" Bruce raised an eyebrow.
"That's ironic." Clint commented.
Sam gave him a questioning glance
"He killed over 90 people in 3 days, even one of our own agents." Natasha replied, filing her nails with her knife.
"Gabriel would never do that."
"Your cherub lied, sweetheart." Natasha smirked without looking up.
"Who are you calling a cherub?" Castiel's trench coat flapped around him.
Natasha, startled, instinctively threw a small throwing knife, hitting Castiel square in the chest.
"Tash!" Steve yelled, standing.
Castiel pulled the knife out of his chest and stared at it curiously.
"Well, aren't you adorable?" Tony drawled "I didn't know angels could be so sexy."
"Tony, I know what you're thinking. Stop." Steve threw him a stern look.
"Hey there"
Dean's brows furrowed "Oh no."
"My name's-"
"Cas, don't pay-"
"Tony Stark." Tony winked
Castiel's pupils dilated slightly "Dean...?" He questioned hesitantly
"Anthony Stark" Steve bellowed "You will stop harassing that young man or so help me God I will tell JARVIS to play Neil Diamond on repeat."
Tony pouted "I regret teaching you about technology."
"Dean. Are these hunters as well?"
"No, Cas. These are the Avengers." Dean tried to contain his excitement, but it just radiated off of him.
Castiel's electric blue eyes focused on Steve as he cocked his head sideways "Steven Rogers, I've heard a lot about you." He smiled warmly.
Steve looked genuinely scared "You have?"
"Not to worry, Steven, you're the excellent model of faith. For example, you befriend a Norse God and yet you still pray to my father every night before slumber.."
"Jeez, even in Heaven you're perfect." Tony muttered under his breath
"Anthony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton." Castiel recited "It is an honor to meet Dean's heroes."
"What about you, Gigantor?" Tony nodded at Sam "Are we your heroes too?"
Dean chuckled and shook his head "Nah, Sammy's hero is H.P. something or other."
"Lovecraft." Sam and Bruce grumbled
"You read Lovecraft?" Sam inched forward
"Of course! He calms me."
"Me too!" Sam's cheeks started to hurt from smiling
"Look at that, a match made in nerd heaven. Good for you, Brucey. It's about time you find someone to settle down with."
"Sam's taken, actually." Dean poured himself another shot of whiskey.
"Stashing a girl somewhere in this dump, kid?" Clint jested
"He's banging the Cherub." Natasha announced.
Sam's face shined a bright red.
"Well, I'll be damned." Tony scoffed "Loki's had a little fun in nowheresville."
"So you trust Loki then?" Steve asked "After everything's he's done?"
"Gabriel" Sam emphasized "has done a lot of bad things, I'll admit, but he's saved our lives once. He helped stop the apocalypse and shoved Lucifer back inside his box."
The statement was received with confused glances.
"We hunt demons and other monsters. Lucifer was going to wear Sammy to the prom and I was supposed to be Michael's meat suit." Dean summarized.
"The point is I know Gabriel. He wouldn't lie to me about any of this and if he did he probably had a great reason."
"He was facing the Asgardian equivalent of the death penalty" Bruce interjected "I think that would be a pretty good reason."
"Loki, is this where you are always sneaking off to?" Thor looked around curiously at the spare car junk.
Gabriel turned and pulled out his flaming sword and held the tip of it under Thor's chin.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"Taking advantage." Loki smirked "This, vessel as they call it, is the body of an Archangel. And a feisty one at that. Don't you see, Brother?" Loki's eyes gleamed "We could become their Gods, we can infiltrate their Heaven and rule! Be more powerful than the Allfather himself!"
"Loki, please. Stop with this foolish nonsense already!" Thor pleaded "I thought we were done with this!"
Loki rolled his ice blue eyes. No longer the honey color they once we're "Brother, don't make me laugh. This will never be over." Suddenly, Loki's knees buckled, but Thor caught him in time "The angel is fighting back." Loki's eyes went him ice blue to it's normal honey gold "Please help me."
"Angel?"
Gabriel's eyes frosted over once more and shoved away Thor, throwing him over several cars "Emotions have made you weak, Brother! Now, if you'll excuse me. I have business to take care of." He wiped the dirt of his hands and snapped his fingers.
"Death penalty?" Sam's eyebrows furrowed
"Well, if it isn't the Captain and his rag-tag crew of miscreants." Loki appeared, he flicked his fingers and sent the Avengers flying through the side of the house.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Dean shouted
"GABRIEL!" Sam yelled, charging towards him.
Loki held up his hand, freezing Sam, Dean and Cas in their places and clicked his tongue "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy. Whatever am I going to do with you?"
Sam looked fiercely at Gabriel's face "Your eyes...You're not Gabriel."
Loki twirled, showing off his new body "For a lowly Midgardian, you're not so stupid." He inched toward Sam and tucked his Sam's hair behind his ear "I can see why the Angel has feelings for you."
"Where is he?" Sam growled, trying to free himself from Loki's invisible reigns.
"He's right here" Loki pointed to his temple "He's still inside of this body, but I'm just keeping him locked away, slowly but surely killing him." Loki's eyes beamed.
Three arrows shot passed Gabriel's face, just nearly missing it, but close enough to graze the skin.
"Loki, let them go." Steve commanded. The room filled up with the sound of Tony's repulsors firing up "Now."
"Brother, listen to the Captain." Thor's soothing voice took over.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, with my powers and the archangel's powers, I've become stronger than ever before." He turned towards Sam and leaned into his ear "I want you dying to be the last thing he remembers you by." Loki conjured a knife and held it up to the sunlight, teh metal .
"Don't you dare hurt my brother, you crazy fucking son of a bitch." Dean threatened
As quick as lightning, Loki pierced the knife into Sam's stomach, twisting and turning it. Sam's knees buckled causing him to fall. White hot pain snaked through his veins, as he looked up into the eyes of the man who had stabbed him.
Gabriel's eyes once again turned the color of honey as he fell "Sam, baby. Sam, please. I'm so sorry, so sorry. Please don't die. Baby, I love you, please." Gabriel pleaded, grabbing the sides of Sam's face who had begun to seize "I'm sorry." Tears slid down his face.
"GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!" Dean yelled
He turned to Castiel and Dean "I'm sorry."
Gabriel's eyes iced over "Ugh, all these emotions are disgusting." Loki groaned "Now as for you lot." Loki turned to face the Avengers "It seems like deja vu with your dear Coulson, doesn't it?"
"That's it." Tony huffed as he blasted Loki with his replusor.
The blast hurled Loki backwards and into a wall, but he stood and brushed himself off like it was nothing "Perks of wearing an archangel, boys." He snapped his fingers "I can do whatever I want."
Tony's suit abruptly died "He killed my power!"
Loki's hands glowed blue as he fired electricity at the heroes.
"Now you won't be needing it" Loki closed his hand into a fight, causing Tony's suit to crumble.
"Natasha! Alpha form B." Steve ordered as he threw his shield at Loki.
Natasha ran then front handspringed forward and jumped over Loki, kicking him in the back as the shield hit him across the face to double the impact.
She went for the second kick, but Loki grabbed her ankle and twisted her forwards. He catapulted her at Clint.
Steve turned to Thor and Bruce "Green tornado. Now. Tony, get the Winchesters out of the way and try to stabilize Sam. GO." He ordered.
Bruce started to Hulk out as Thor swung Mjolnir creating a tornado around Loki, temporarily blinding him.
"You can't defeat me, Brother!" Loki roared
"Hulk can!" Bruce charged behind Loki
"Shit."
Bruce grabbed Loki and body slammed him into the solid concrete.
Gabriel's body was finally unconscious. Natasha and Clint restrained Loki and opened the portal back to the Tower.
"Good work, team." Steve announced proudly.
"CAP!" Tony yelled "We have a problem!"
They gathered around Sam whose veins were a deep blue, a striking contrast to his deathly pale skin "I don't know what's happening."
Thor examined the wound "It's poison from Jötunheim. The boy need medical attention soon if he wishes to survive."
"Send him through now." Thor nodded and swiftly carried Sam through the portal.
"THAT'S MY BROTHER!" Dean yelled "You can't just take him like that!"
"Tash, get ready to transport Loki and check on Bruce. Dean." Steve locked eyes with the older Winchester, who's tear streaked face was red from the residual rage "It's your call. We need to take Sam, it's the only way to save him. You can either come with us or stay."
"Everything I have is here! We're demon hunters, that's what we do! I-I can't do anything else." Dean ran a hand through his hair in frustration
"You and Castiel could become paranormal consultants with SHIELD." Steve offered.
"I could use a mechanic like you back at the Tower." Tony added "What do you say, kid?"
Dean glanced at Cas "Wherever you choose to go, I will follow, Dean. I admit, we have nothing here anymore. I can always take you back, if you chose to do so." Castiel smiled warmly, taking Dean's hand.
Dean closed his eyes and nodded "Alright."
Bruce stepped behind him, clothes in tatters "Ready?"
All stepped into the blinding light.
"De-Dean?" Sam groaned, his head felt like it was being squeezed a roller.
"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty." Dean walked over and sat on the edge of the hospital bed.
"How long was I out?"
"Couple days, give or take?"
Sam slowly opened his eyes and gazed around the unfamiliar white walls "Where are we?"
"The Avengers infirmary." Dean was buzzing with glee.
"Seriously?" Sam's eyes widen.
"Would I kid about this?"
Sam's hand went to scratch his chest, but a hand stopped him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Pepper stepped into the room. "Hello, Sam. I'm Pepper Potts." She extended her hand.
"You're the Pepper Potts." Sam's voice was barely audible.
"In the flesh." She smiled "How are you feeling, Sam?"
"Like I got stabbed in the chest."
Pepper chuckled "You share your brother's charm." She opened her folder "These are your official SHIELD badges." She handed the brothers leather badge cases.
Dean was practically vibrating with joy "Dean Winchester" He read off "Official SHIELD consultant. No more forging state trooper records, eh, Sammy?"
"Your condos are being furnished as we speak, they'll be done in a week or so. Until then you'll be staying in the guest wing of the Tower."
"That's the Avengers Tower, Sam."
Sam chuckled "Yeah, Dean. I got that." Sam noticed the lack of awkward in the room "Where's Cas?"
Dean and Pepper exchanged glances "He's with Loki..."
Sam sat up straighter "Where is he?" His pulse elevated.
"Sam, you have to calm down." Pepper gently pushed him back down "He's...secure."
"Can I see him?"
"Sammy, I don't know if that's such a good idea.."
"Dean, Loki possessed my boyfriend. Wouldn't you want to see him if it was Cas?"
Dean peered at Pepper "He has a point."
Pepper sighed "Alright. I'll arrange it with the nurses."
Sam was soon being wheeled down the corridor "Remember, Sam" Pepper whispered behind him "He won't look the same."
"I can handle it, Ms. Potts."
"Please, call me Pepper." She stopped in front of giant glass doors. "Do you want me to join you?"
"No, Ms.-Pepper. But thank you. I'll buzz you when I need to leave."
She nodded and buzzed him inside.
Cas stood "Hello, Sam. Feeling better?"
"Yeah, Cas. Thanks. Do you mind if we have a moment alone?"
"Of course." With a whoosh Castiel was gone.
"Well" A voice drawled on "if it isn't the little Moose that could. Not even the strongest of poisons from Jötunheim could kill you. Don't tell me that your love for the angel kept you alive?"
"Let talk to Gabriel." Sam said through gritted teeth.
Loki groaned "Enough with the Gabriel, already. He's gone!"
"You can't make me believe that." Sam said firmly.
Loki, in his true form, walked to the edge of his holding cell "He put up quite the fight though." He turned and lifted his head, showing a massive scar down the side of his neck "Burned me from the inside out."
"Serves you right." Sam spat out "You should've been burned alive instead. You tricked me...for years! How could've I been so stupid?" He muttered to himself.
"I'm the God of Mischief, you ignorant mortal! My reign shall be eternal! I should have killed you when I had the chance!" Loki banged on the wall.
"I may be ignorant, but at least I'm not locked in a box for my eternal reign." Sam buzzed the door for Pepper "You're a lousy God."
Pepper entered and took Sam.
"You'll see! YOU WILL ALL SEE! I AM LOKI. THE GOD OF MISCHIEF AND THE RIGHTFUL KING OF ASGARD! MY REIGN SHALL BE ETERNAL AND ALL SHALL BOW BEFORE ME!" Loki pounded his fist against the reinforced walls, his voice muted by the closing doors.
"Goodbye, Gabriel." Sam whispered, as a tear fell into his lap.