Chapter 3 – The Avengers
Stark followed the two Gods out of the plane, and close behind them was Rogers, jumping out in a parachute as Romanov tried to stop them. She looked back over to Sherlock and shrugged before turning the craft around and following them.
"Where are they!" Romanov said through gritted teeth as she searched the dark skies, Sherlock watched through the screen over her shoulder when some lights caught his eye.
"There, over there!" He pointed as a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and into a clearing in the forest below, she steered the craft slowly, watching the surroundings for any sign of danger as Sherlock watched the shots of light increase.
Something dropped out of the sky, Rogers at a guess, and joined in the fight. All Sherlock could make out was shots of light and sparks as hammer hit metal, until a great clashing sound broke through the silence and the craft was flung back in the air as it was buffeted by wind and sound alike, alarms sounded and red lights flashed inside the craft and Sherlock wished nothing more that he was on solid ground at that moment. As Romanov got the craft under control she managed to take it down to the clearing where the three men were facing each other off.
"Where is Loki?" She called out over the intercom system and Thor pointed to a cliff face, she looked over, turning a bright light on outside the craft and pointed it. Loki was sitting there with a look of glee on his face; he shielded his eyes as the light hit him and waved sarcastically.
Romanov set the craft down and Sherlock opened the hatch, Rogers came in none the worse for wear, Stark on the other hand was scuffed and battered and looking thoroughly unsatisfied. A few minutes more and Thor appeared, dragging Loki who seemed to really be enjoying himself.
"It is so wise to put us all in this metal container together?" He spat as he was thrown down into another seat and restrained. Thor ignored him and looked around before walking over to Romanov.
"I am Thor Odinson of Asgard, Loki is my brother."
"I know who you are; we have been monitoring you since the first encounter."
"I am sorry that my brother causes so much trouble for your people, Midgard is under my protection and I will not let his evil schemes continue."
"Midgard?" Rogers asked.
"It is known as Earth to your people." Thor said darkly.
"You're doing a bang up job there God of Thunder." Stark retorted.
"Do not provoke me metal man."
"Put down the hammer and lets see how good your armour is?"
"Enough! Can we get back to base in one piece and without losing the prisoner!" Romanov shouted and everyone fell silent.
Sherlock sat back down and watched Loki again, filing every single detail of his behaviour away ready for when it was needed.
"I don't know about your planet Detective, but where I come from it is rude to stare."
"I'm recording information."
"Is that so?" Loki trailed off as Thor approached and sat down next to him, hammer in hand.
"Who are you?" Thor watched Sherlock closely.
"Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective."
Thor looked at him blankly.
"He solves puzzles brother." Loki sighed.
"I wouldn't put it so plainly, I am hired to solve cases, murder, kidnapping, that sort of thing."
"So why are you here?"
"I keep asking myself the same thing."
When they touched down on the base that was rolling through the clouds they were met by more than a dozen heavily armed guards who took Loki away, the grin on his face never faltered as he was flanked and marched into the base.
They all gathered around a large table to listen to Fury speak to Loki, whose keen mind and eyes were keeping Fury on his toes with ease. Sherlock couldn't help but want to interrogate this ma-God whatever further, he was posing as much of an interest to Sherlock as Moriarty had, though who was more unstable Sherlock had yet to discover.
Rogers asked Thor to get them up to speed, an army from outer space. This was getting even more incredulous as the days wore on. Only a few days ago Sherlock had felt secure in his knowledge of things, science, not myth and magic, was his passion and he knew that the latter did not exist. Now he was forced to confront something that frightened him greatly, they were not alone in the universe and magic surely did exist. And they were at war with a force they could not hope to subdue, a force far greater and advanced than they were.
Stark entered with an air of cool confidence and started reeling things off about Thermonuclear Astrophysics.
"Am I the only one who did the reading?"
"No, you're not and I quite agree Stark." Sherlock sighed, hating to have to admit it.
"Take notes America, Britain is pulling ahead!" Stark clapped before he and Banner started discussing things, Sherlock got the feeling he was purposefully using the Physics terminology to throw everyone off and enjoyed that he seemed to be the only one capable of understanding them.
Fury entered and told them both to get started in the lab, Stark turned round and motioned to Sherlock. "Shall we play Doctor, Detective, you too." Sherlock sighed once more and got up, he really was at a loss right now as to what was going on.
Sherlock watched on as the two men worked, occasionally pointing out things they had missed, he was no scientist but his brain was unparalleled in most fields so he was able to contribute easily. For the most part he kept quiet, watching the two men and how they moved, how they worked. He wanted to know what Banner was hiding desperately.
He watched as Stark prodded Banner with something electrified, his eyes narrowing on the two's reactions when Rogers walked in.
"Hey! Are you nuts!"
"Jury's out." He turned back to Banner. "You really have got a lid on it haven't you, what's your secret?"
"Is everything a joke to you?" Rogers voice betrayed his calm demeanour, he's frightened, everyone but Stark is terrified of Banner!
"Funny things are."
"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny, no offence doc."
"It's alright," Banner stuttered, "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." His eyes flicked back to Stark, amusement on his face clear.
Before Stark and Rogers could start arguing Sherlock stepped in.
"I may seem to you like a useless commodity, but I was brought here for a reason, now you need me, so will someone please tell me what is actually going on?" He stared the men down and Banner looked away.
"I actually find you useful princess." Said Stark, grinning. "Dr Banner here was in an accident whilst experimenting, trying to find out how to create what turned our Capsicle here into 'Mr Super Soldier', it went wrong and he was exposed to a large amount of radiation, instead of dying he just got anger management issues."
Sherlock raised his eyes at Banner, hope for a less sarcastic and cryptic explanation.
"When I get angry I turn into a monster."
"Like, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?!" Sherlock bit his tongue before he scoffed; he really had to stop doing that.
"Except he turns green." Stark chimed in. "Here I'll show you." He wandered over to a clear screen hanging down and tapped it before flicking things left and right with his fingers. Videos opened up on all different screens.
There was Agent Romanov fighting ('Codename Black Widow' Stark mused), Stark beating people to a pulp ('That's me! Iron Man'), Captain Rogers defending civilians ('Captain America' Stark teased to Rogers who pursed his lips and folded his arms), a man that looked like the man in the files Romanov had been mooning over shooting people with arrows in quick succession ('That's Agent Barton, aka Hawkeye, captured by Loki' Said Stark) and then there was something that made Sherlock stagger back in shock. There on the last screen was a gigantic green creature smashing its way through the streets and being shot at, all the bullets glancing off its thick hide.
"You become that!" Sherlock leant back against a table as his mind went beserk.
"Not the most flattering video but yes." Banner replied heavily.
"That is The Hulk! Look they even have you!" Stark cried gleefully before thrusting a screen into Sherlock's face, there were he and John, rushing after criminals and even videos of them outside the flat or conversing with Lestrade. "You don't have a cool nickname though, you need one!"
"What is this?" Sherlock gasped as he regained his composure.
"The Avengers Initiative, a project to find the beings in the world most capable of saving the day and bringing them together when the world is under threat."
"But you're all here because you have super strength or can fly or transform. And I-"
"You're the most brilliant mind in Europe and probably the world Mr Holmes." Rogers answered.
"I don't think…" Normally Sherlock would enjoy having his ego rubbed, but this was all getting too much for his 'brilliant' mind to handle.
"You should be incredibly useful to us Mr Holmes as I know Fury is hiding something from us." He argued with Rogers before carrying on. They then both looked to Banner.
"A warm light for all mankind, Loki's jab at Fury about the cube, I think that was meant for you." He pointed at Stark. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."
"Stark tower? That big ugly…" Stark threw Rogers an annoyed look. "Building in New York."
Stark looked over to Sherlock before throwing another image up on the screen, this time of a giant building, at least three times the size of London's biggest, with his name plastered on it in glowing letters. He tried to hide his contempt and nodded to Stark.
"Its powered by an Arc Reactor, a self sustaining energy source." Sherlock had to remind himself that yes, they do exist before he scoffed and let Banner continue talking. Stark and Rogers had to bounce off each other a few more times after Stark mentioned that he had been hacking SHIELD's database, before they got to the point, which Sherlock had already concluded, but let them say anyway.
Steve left them too it after Sherlock had to hold himself back from agreeing with Stark about his outfit and they started discussing Loki's plans, before Stark brought Banner's ailment back into question. Sherlock leant against the table, his hands together on his chin and left them to it, his mind working at dizzying speeds over the information he had just been given.
Without a word he got up and left them to it, he needed to go and speak to Loki, he needed to find out why he had let them capture him, he left the two men and whisked himself down the corridors until he found the holding area.
Loki was standing in the middle of the glass cage with his hands behind his back and arrogance coming off him in waves.
"Detective, I wondered when you would visit me; I knew you couldn't resist me." He drew back his lips in a grin that was almost a snarl and Sherlock narrowed his eyes.
"You were right."
Loki raised an eyebrow.
"What you said, about if I truly believed in the good guys winning. I don't believe in heroes, I certainly don't believe in super heroes and I don't believe in villains. I believe in purpose, everyone does something for a reason, for their own reasons, people can pass it off as wanting to do it for the people and for others but it all comes down to them in the end. There is no good or bad, only different motives."
Loki stepped forwards and looked at Sherlock with piercing eyes. "And you want to know my purpose? My motive?"
"It would be a huge help, you are feigning your power right now. There is no way that you could be captured this easily."
"You could be right." He stepped right up to the glass now, he was only slightly taller than Sherlock, but much more imposing, he narrowed his eyes as he searched Sherlock's face. "So if you don't believe in heroes and villains, why are you here?"
"Boredom."
"Boredom?"
"Yes, I was bored, I needed something to do and this opportunity presented itself to me."
"Do you not mean you were dragged her against your will?"
Sherlock thinned his lips, hoping Loki hadn't noticed, but of course he had. Sherlock wondered just how perceptive this man was compared to him. "It started that way, but once I got on board I knew this was exactly where I needed to be to quell my boredom."
"How does a man who believes in science come to terms with gods?"
"With great difficulty actually, though you're doing a good job of convincing me between yourself and your brother. He has got this whole god thing really working for him. You on the other hand are more like a very bored teenager."
Loki's eyes darkened for a split second, barely noticeable but Sherlock saw it. "I suppose by our almost immortal standards that is exactly what I am."
"Why do you want to take over the world? Out of all the galaxies you chose ours? I knew tourism was good here but surely someone as intelligent as yourself can hold no interest in such a tiny, weak planet. A man of your calibre really should have higher standards."
Loki turned away from him and Sherlock knew he had found something. After a short pause he turned back to Sherlock.
"Boredom." His eyes lit up as he watched Sherlock, he stared him down and Sherlock watched the cool blue eyes turn maniacal. Mycroft was right; this was a whole other level to Moriarty.
"So you really do want to take over the world?" Sherlock's voice stayed the same but his facial expression changed, he knew he was at the wrong angle for the cameras to pick it up so could use it to convey what he really wanted to say, he let it betray his thoughts. I know what your plan is, I know why you came to Earth.
Loki's eyes widened and he stepped back from the glass before regaining himself. He flashed the detective a grin, he realised that though Sherlock had figured it out he wasn't going to say anything. What a curious man.
"Yes, I want to rule over Midgard and I would really like to see a mere mortal as yourself try to stop me Detective." He sneered at Sherlock, trying to figure him out.
"Thank you for being honest with me, God of Mischief, until we meet again." Sherlock turned away from him, but risked a look back over his shoulder at the grinning god. "The game is on!" He shouted as he swept from the holding area.
