The herd of children immediately sprinted through the door like a pack of wolves, many of them yelling what could most accurately be described as battle cries as they disappeared into the depths within. The heroes followed more slowly as they entered. It was relatively dark, with neon lights of various colours lighting up strategically placed walls and ramps that created a sort of maze.
Tony immediately flagged down Steve.
"Yo, Rogers! You're on my team," he yelled, not bothering to wait for a reply before grabbing his arm and pulling him off to the side. Steve shrugged, but seemed rather pleased to be wanted at all, nevertheless.
"Who else, do you think?" Tony muttered, scoping out the remainder of the group for potential teammates.
"Well, I would say Clint and Natasha, but they seem to have run off already…"
"They'd have refused, anyway," Tony said, nodding.
"How about Peter? He seems promising," Steve suggested.
Tony seemed to agree. He waved his gun over his head, standing on his toes to see over the gaggle of superheroes (and Loki) still milling about near the entrance. Steve bit his tongue to keep himself from making a crack about Tony's height. Tony made fun of him often enough, but Steve wasn't keen on playing his first game of laser tag without any allies and with Tony Stark as an enemy.
"Parker! Wanna join us?" Tony was yelling.
The dark-haired teenager met Tony's eye and grinned, giving them a thumbs up.
Tony smiled brightly, turning to Steve.
"You know, I think this is the first time my team's actually got a fighting chance," he said. "If we could recruit one more solid player…What about Thor? He shows some potential…"
But Peter, who was approaching Tony and Steve, shook his head gravely.
"He's gone off with Clint and Tasha. They seem to think he's got some potential, too."
Tony's face fell, his spirits obviously crushed.
"I've been trying to get on their team for months! They are so going down…"
"What about Loki?" Peter asked, glancing over to where Loki was standing, alone once again, clutching his laser gun rather uncertainly. "Come on, Tony, he's probably a natural at it!"
Tony rolled his eyes, but found it rather difficult to refuse Peter when his big brown eyes were making the teenager look like a baby deer.
"Fine," he grumbled, but Peter was already sprinting over towards the god.
"Hey, Loki!" he cried, grinning in excitement. "Wanna be on our team?"
Loki, looking genuinely surprised, glanced over to where Tony was standing with a bitter expression, and Steve looking apologetic on his friend's behalf.
"Yes…Yes, I would," Loki said, a startled sort of smile appearing on his normally cold face.
"Awesome!" Peter cried, running over and holding up his palm for a high five, to which Loki looked baffled but raised his hand as well, holding it motionless near his jaw. Peter, amused, slapped his hand. "Okay, so, for a start, you hold your gun the other way around…"
Tony groaned, burying his face in his hands. Steve, however, marched up to face their newest recruit.
"Soldier!" he cried, standing with the impeccable posture of a military man. Loki looked stunned to be addressed thus.
"Excuse me?" he said, a bit of his attitude creeping out again. But Steve stood his ground.
"If you're going to be fighting alongside us, you are a soldier. We are all soldiers, fighting for a common goal. Do you understand?"
Loki simply gaped at him. Steve regarded him deliberately.
"If you can't accept your position, then you are free to go. If you would like to fight with us, embrace your position as our equal and stand proudly!"
To Peter and Tony's utter surprise, Loki's posture immediately straightened in an imitation Steve's. He inclined his head slightly in respect, which was definitely not the American custom, but Steve let it go.
Steve turned and marched back to his stunned teammates, a self-satisfied little smile on his lips.
"How did you do that?!" they mouthed at him, but Steve only shrugged.
"The only reason he turned and tried to take over the Earth is because he wants to be accepted," Steve explained in hushed tones. "When no one would accept him, he had to force others to respect him. I just tried offering him our respect in the best way I knew how…"
Tony shook his head.
"Who knew we had a psychologist on our team?"
Steve smiled, glancing back to where Loki was standing with his gun tucked, still backwards, under his arm.
"Peter, why don't you go do a quick training session with him?" Steve suggested.
"You gottit." Peter approached Loki and began to show him how exactly to use his laser gun.
"Seriously, though, that was pretty impressive, Rogers," Tony was saying to Steve. "Of course, you could have tried that before he tried to destroy New York City this summer, but – "
Tony's words were cut off when his vest began vibrating and lighting up, and he looked around wildly for the enemy. But instead of spotting a ten-year-old kid, like he expected, his eyes fell on a laughing Peter, who was helping a pleased-looking Loki position his gun, which was incidentally pointed directly at Tony.
"Yeah, that's how you shoot the gun," Peter was telling Loki, still laughing. "Next, though, we should work on your aim…"
However, Tony was not very lenient for their newest teammate. He raised his gun, pointing it straight at Loki's chest, and fired, smirking in satisfaction when Loki's vest began to blink and vibrate.
"Come on, Tony, he didn't mean to…" Peter said, looking disappointed.
Loki sent Tony a scathing glare, the hurt evident on his pale, thin, face, before whirling and stalking off down one of the flashing corridors.
"Loki, wait!" Peter yelled after him, but the frost giant did not emerge. Peter looked at Tony with a stony expression. "Tony, you're a moron."
"Oh come on, he was asking for it!" Tony cried, but Steve cut him off with a raised hand.
"Tony, you are a moron," Steve agreed, "But now is not the time for this. We have a battle to fight, and there's no more time for deliberation. We still have three strong soldiers left, and we have a good chance of emerging victorious."
"Hell yeah we do," Tony said, as Peter pretended to clap politely for Steve's speech.
"So we are going to go out there, and we are going to win!"
The three of them raised their guns high over their heads and hollered. Steve bravely led the way down the brightly flashing corridor ahead of them to their inevitable defeat.