"That's him?" Misty asked, shouting her question over the sound of the Quinjet's rumbling engines. She stood at the opened back hatch, holding onto the jumbled mess of cargo straps to keep herself safely upright. "Does he know that he looks like a desert goat?"
"Focus, Cox!" Romanoff shouted from her seat at the front of the jet.
Outside, Steve Rogers (sans any defining personal characteristics, as he donned his Captain America suit) vaulted himself in front of an elderly man in order to protect him from a flash of crystalline blue energy. It appeared that he was speaking to Loki, but Misty couldn't hear the particulars of the conversation. While Steve's face bore an unsympathetic and hardened look, Loki was visibly amused by him, the incessant screams of citizens, and the flames like a large disk around him.
Misty was on standby if it appeared at all that Steve was going to need her help—he seemed to be holding up well enough at the moment. She would readily jump into action and fight beside Captain America, bold and valorous, but she knew just by looking at him that Loki had an advantage against her—stature, strength, strategy. Not to mention that he was holding quite a large, ominous scepter in his hands that spewed deadly sapphire (and apparently turned good hearts into bad ones… Clint).
The Quinjet dipped slightly as the machine gun fell through the opened access door at the bottom. Misty fisted a bundle of cargo straps and steadied herself as the floor beneath her bounced up and fell back down. She grimaced slightly. Planes were okay, but she wouldn't prefer to die in one.
"Loki," Natasha's voice boomed on the speakers. "Drop the weapon and stand down."
No sooner than the words left her mouth did Loki fire a blue blast of energy at the Quinjet. Natasha grabbed ahold of the control column and cut it to the left. The jet followed in a hard, jerky motion to avoid Loki's blast and any structural or internal damage. The hard cut caught Misty off guard and she completely lost her grip on the cargo netting once in her grasp. She fell, smacked her face on the cabin floor, and hit the side of the jet on her back as it turned out of the way. Before sliding out of the Quinjet on the opened hatch floor, she managed to grab ahold of the interior paneling with one hand.
"Close the hatch!" she screamed. "Tasha, the hatch!"
Natasha obliged, and flipped a switch that slowly folded the hatch back into the jet. Once completely safe and secure inside, Misty released her grip on the paneling and lay slack on the cabin floor. Her nose bled a bit, and she touched it gently with the pads of her fingers to find that it was not broken.
"Tasha… Tasha… Some warning… Any kind of warning…" she struggled to catch her breath. "…would have been appreciated."
"Sorry!"
Suddenly, the controls screeched and rock music flooded the Quinjet.
"What's that?" Misty asked, holding her nose. "Iron Maiden? Led Zeppelin? What's going on? Is it Iron Maiden? What the fuck is going on, Natasha!?"
"No," Natasha sighed. "Iron Man… and AC/DC. Great guess though."
Misty pulled herself up on her elbows and crawled the length of the air corridor. From behind Natasha, she rose from the floor to look out of the front windshield. On the ground, seemingly subdued, was Loki. Standing above him in the definite position of power were Iron Man and Captain America. They held a conversation indiscernible from the Quinjet before flanking Loki on both sides and maintaining his stooped position at the foot of a staircase. Strange, as Loki was not offering the slightest bit of resistance.
The Quinjet was relatively quiet as Natasha steered it through the mist and collection of velvet clouds. Twenty minutes prior, Tony and Steve brought Loki onboard, sat him on the bench seat, and thought about strapping him in with the available five-point harness, but decided against it. No one was going to be too affected if the turbulence was a bit jarring and Loki bounded around the jet's interior. While Tony and Steve engaged in a bout of catty banter at the back of the jet, Misty sat on the bench across from Loki and didn't take her acute gaze off of him.
"How's your sense of smell faring?" Tony asked.
Loki chuckled. "I hope I didn't do that," he teased, a grin tugging at his lips.
Misty glared at Tony. "You're asinine," she spat, then turned to Loki. "And so are you." Her nose, lips, and chin were marked crimson from the nosebleed. "I'll kill you. I swear to God, I'll kill you."
Loki's mouth formed into a small 'o'. "Your false God?" he scoffed. "I've never before heard such a… weightless threat."
Misty stood up and, with a sleek flick of the wrist, unfolded her five-foot tapered battle baton. She cocked her head to the side and smirked slightly. "I'll oblige. Wanna take a spin, Daddy-O?"
Steve intervened before anything could happen, wordlessly guiding Misty to the front of the jet where Natasha was co-piloting. He shared a few quiet, soothing words with her that lessened some of the anger bursting in (almost) painful shock-waves throughout her body. Misty looked through the doorway to Loki and found him grinning mischievously while wringing his hands together. Steve intentionally blocked her line of sight and encouraged a deep breath before he walked with her back to her seat across from Loki. She folded her baton four times and slid it into the dual strap holder of her duty belt.
"False god," Misty mouthed to Loki, who was staring at her with rapt eyes.
A bolt of lightning suddenly struck and seemed to open the sky around the jet, leaving a gash of bright white in the black. In his seat, Loki sighed heavily and flexed his arms as if preparing for something.
"What's the matter?" Steve asked. "Scared of a little lightning?"
Rolling his eyes, Loki replied with: "I'm not overly fond of what follows."
The Quinjet rocked suddenly, and a blinding light hit the back hatch. The ramp unfolded and there, in the shower of scrap metal and light, stood a man only briefly before he grabbed Loki and flew out of the opened hatch. The only thing registered to the eye, bearing in mind his speed, was his liquid-like red cape against the darkness of the sky.
The shock lasted a moment before Tony stepped to the ramp. "Now there's that guy."
"Another Asguardian?" asked Natasha from the front of the Quinjet.
"Think the guy's friendly?"
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony turned away from Steve and walked the length of the ramp. The folded-back helmet in his suit of iron formed back over his face and muffled his speech.
"The latter sounds… strangely pleasant," Misty said to no one in particular.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!"
"I have a plan: attack!" Tony shouted. He jumped out of the plane without another word and disappeared into the dark of night. The only things visible and discernible were the beams of light shooting from the propellers of his suit. Behind him, Steve was preparing a parachute at the ramp.
"Cap?"
"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha said.
He didn't look back to Misty or Natasha, and instead continued clipping together the disconnected pieces of the parachute. "I don't see how I can."
"I see how you can!" Misty shouted over the sound of the winds and the engines. She pointed to the empty bench across from her. "I believe in you, Cap. I really do! But I think you should have a seat!"
"I agree. These guys come from legends, they're basically gods."
"There's only one god, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." With that, Captain America dove from the ramp and fell through opaque clouds and the night sky.
I had lots of fun writing this chapter-at Misty's expense. As always and forever, reviews are love!
