I ran out of the office and was greeted to a punch in the jaw when I went around a corner. I groaned and stumbled back, rubbing my jaw. Natasha stepped out with shock in her eyes.

"Maria? I swear I thought you were Fury."

I grimaced. "You would punch...Fury?"

She shrugged. "I've actually been wanting to do it for some time. He can get on my nerves at times."

"Nat, where is everybody else?"

Suddenly, she tackled me to the ground as the wall behind her exploded. Tony flew in with his suit as the helmet cleared away to show his face.

"Where's Fury?" he asked.

Natash and I go up from the floor as I replied, "He's gone. Loki...he's back and he has him somewhere. He took Steve too."

Tony snorted and shook his head/ "No, seriously, what happened?"

Agent Barton stepped through the large hole in the wall behind Tony, holding his bow and nodding at Natasha. "What'd I miss?"

Natasha spoke before I could. "Loki's back, according to Maria. How do you know he's back?"

"Because he showed me a vision. How the hell do you think I know? He's been pretending to be Fury for God knows how long. Now, he's taken Steve away with him. He was taking control of Bucky, like before with Selvig and Clint."

Natasha glanced. "He was under a spell. But, where is he?"

"We knocked him out back at the house he kept me in. I sent back up to pick him up form there and bring him here."

Tony cleared his throat, loudly. "So, uh, are we going to find Steve or what? Did Loki leave you some kind of clue?"

I shook my head. "No. But, there's something...different about his powers. He can...disappear."

Clint grimaced. "Couldn't he already do that?"

"No, he was able to shift to other places, but not too far from where he was standing before. He just grabbed Steve and vanished into thin air."

"Well, there's nothing we can do. We don't even have a trace on him. We've got nothing." Tony said, frustrated.

Natash shook her head. "There's got to be something."

"Wait." Tony said, suddenly. "You said that Bucky kept you in a house, right, Maria?"

I nodded, not sure where he was going.

"Did you see all the rooms in the house? Maybe Fury's there."

Nat glanced at me, raising an eyebrow. "That's the obvious place Loki could be hiding someone."

"Are we even listening to ourselves?" Clint asked, loudly. "When's the last time we saw Loki?"

We all looked at each other and at Clint, who was waiting for an answer. "We saw him in New York, people!"

Tony shrugged. "So?"

"So? We didn't just see him in New York. We saw him fly up to Heaven or whatever with Thor. He took him to Asgard with the Tesseract." Clint replied.

Natasha nodded. "If he's down here on Earth, Thor doesn't even know."

We all rushed out of the building and out onto the parking lot of the place. We all looked up at the sky as Clint cleared his throat, awkwardly.

"Uh...what was that guy's name again?"

We all thought for a moment, but JARVIS spoke up from Tony's suit. "I believe it was Heimdall."

Tony glanced up at the sky and yelled, "Heidall! Uh, open the stairway to Heaven!"

We all looked at him and he shrugged. "Whatever."

I rolled my eyes. "Heimdal, open the bifrost!"

There was loud rush of wind and we all stumbled as a bright light shined from the sky. We covered out eyes as loud rush of thunder filled the sky. Suddenly, we saw the man himself. Heimdall was holding his scepter and staring at us with his gold eyes.

"You called?" he asked, gently.

"Heimdal, we need to speak with Thor. Loki's here on Earth and he's taken Steve and Fury." I said, stepping up to him.

His eye twitched as he looked at me. "Loki? Loki is dead."

Natasha shook her head. "No, he's very much alive. Just call Thor!"

Heimdal was clearly distress at this news. What had Loki done on Asgard? Heimdall looked up at the sky and slammed his scepter down on the ground. The ground rumbled and it sounded like thunder crashed as he hit the ground again. More lightning filled the sky as a bright bulb of light flowed down and right in front of us.

Thor, in all his mightyness, appeared before us. His blonde hair draped over his shoulders and his long, red cape blew in the wind. He looked at us with his blue eyes. Tony and Clint shook their heads at him mumbling.

"Show-off." Clint mumbled.

"Thor, we need your help. Loki's here on Earth and he's taken Steve and Fury. He's hidden them somewhere." Natasha said, quickly.

Thor grimaced. "Loki? But, Loki died when-"

"Loki's alive, Thor. He's here on Earth and he has Steve. And Fury." Clint said.

Thor glanced at Heimdall who seemed to be lost in thought. Tony stared at him, as if waiting for a response. Heimdall finally looked at Thor.

"They speak truthfully. Loki, is indeed, here on this planet." he said, calmly.

Tony sighed and nodded. "Now, that you two have finally decided to catch on, where the hell is Loki, anyway?"

Heimdall lifted his finger and pointed behind us. We turned and saw nothing but the far horizon.

"He is somewhere in the West, inside a small building of shelter."

"Where is he exactly?" Natasha asked.

"There are four men inside, including Loki."

Tony nodded. "Steve, Fury, and Bucky."

"I sent agents to pick Bucky up. We have to get there before they do." I said.

Thor clutched his hammer and nodded. Then, he looked behind us and we turned. Wanda appraoched us, cautiously. Natasha and I walked up to her as she stared at us.

"Wanda, I thought you were on a mission with Sam and Vision." Natasha said, putting her hands on her hips.

She but her lip and nodded. "I was. But, we received word that some chaos was going on back here. I left the mission as soon as I could to get back here when I heard that Steve was missing."

I felt a small cringe in my stomach by how she said Steve's name. I ignored it as Natasha put a hand on her shoulder.

"Wanda, the director is also missing. We're going to get them both back, and I think we're going to need you the most." she said, softly.

Tony cleared his throat. "JARVIS, the quinjet, if you please."


Steve awoke with a massive headache. He was lying on his back and slowly sat up, rubbing his forehead. His sheild was missing and his eyelids felt heavy from the headache. His leg was also in great pain. When he tried to get up, he hissed and realized his leg was broken.

He was in a small room with Loki, standing by the door. In his hand was a sceptor of gold. It looked similar to a trident, but the middle point was longer than the othe other two. Loki held it tightly in his hand and stared at it, drunk by its power.

"You have great power and strength, little soldier." Loki said, quietly as he stared at the spear.

Steve groaned, quietly. Loki continued speaking. "Gungnir. My father's spear."

Steve grimaced. "Odin...how did-"

"It wasn't easy, I assure you. But, I have been watching and ruling Asgard as its rightful ruler these past few months." Loki chuckled.

He walked towards Steve, clutching the spear. "What do you want with me?"

Loki placed the end of the spear under Steve's chin and lifted it. "I have you and Director Fury in my grasp. With the two of you, I can use you to take down the rest of you, Avengers, one by one. Then, there's nothing else getting in my way in dominating this planet."

"You really think that they're stupid enough to come here and play any of your stupid games?"

They heard a distant engine and the wind's speed increased. Loki grinned and nodded. "That's exactly what I think."

Clint lowered the quinjet down on the ground and I joined Natasha as we exited. We walked towards the cabin. She and I took out our handguns and approached. Thor and Tony quietly surrounded the cabin and waited for our signal. Natasha kicked the door down and we rushed in, hearing a muffled sound. We walked through the cabin and spotted a hallway.

We walked past several doors and saw one that was open. Inside, Bucky was bound by chains and unconscious. Natasha put a hand to her ear and signaled Tony.

"Tony, Bucky's inside a room on your side. Get him out and take him to the quinjet."

"Copy that."

We left the room and continued looking for Steve. A muffled screamed made us look to a door a few feet from the room where Bucky was. We burst into the room where the scream came from and saw Steve battling Loki on the floor. He kicked Loki in the stomach and punched him in the face with all his strength. Steve's lip was bleeding and he quickly wiped it.

He turned to us as he bent down to pick up a gold spear. "He had this on him."

I took the spear from him and clutched it. "I recognize it. It's Odin's."

Ntasha grimaced. "Odin's? How can you be sure?"

"I did my research on gods and such after the whole New York thing. And, after Thor first came to Earth." I replied, holding the spear in both hands.

Steve panted and put his hand on my shoulder. "I knew you'd come."

I smiled. "I wasn't going to let you go that easily."

Natasha shook her head. "Okay, you two, let's get the other in here. Thor? Tony? We got him. Stand down and get in here."

They did and they were surprised to see Loki on the floor. Thor noticed the spear in my hands and his eyes filled with horror.

"Where did you get that?"

"He had it on him. It's your father's, isn't it?" I asked, giving it to him.

He took it from me and nodded, slowly. "But, how did it come to his possession?"

Tony shrugged. "Hasn't he been under tight security in Asgard? How do you not know?"

"We'll discuss it on the way bac to headquarters. Let's get moving. Did you get Bucky on board the quinjet?" I asked.

Thor nodded. "He is safely aboard but still unconscious."

"What about Fury? Did you see him in the cabin?" Nat asked.

Thor and Tony shook their heads. I lowered my eyes and nodded. Steve motioned for us to go. "Come on. We better head back."

Thor and Tony grabbed Loki and dragged him to the quinjet. Wanda saw us come back and nodded at Steve. "Glad to see you're alright."

He nodded back at her. "Good to be back."

Clint flew the quinjet into the air and we headed back to headquarters. Steve and I sat together. I looked at him and got an idea.

"Want to see if Bucky's okay? He might be awake by now." I suggested.

"Maybe. But, not now." he sighed.

"You sure? He might be awake."

"I don't want to bother him. He needs some time to calm down. And, I don't even know what I'm going to say to him."

I side-smiled and rested my head on his shoulder. "Whatever you want."

He looked down at me and smiled. The quinjet landed back at headquarters and Thor dragged Loki out of his cell, still unconscious. Tony raised his eyebrows and looked at Steve.

"How hard did you hit him?"

Steve shrugged. "Pretty hard."

A handful of agents threw him into a cell and Steve, Natasha, and I waited for him to wake up. Natasha sighed and rubbed her temples.

"I'm calling it a night. Let's head back here tomorrow morning, alright?" she asked, looking at us for a response.

"Sounds good. Night, Nat."

I looked at Steve and he let out a small sigh. We looked back at Loki, who still wasn't awake.

"Did he hurt you?" I asked, quietly.

He lowered his eyes. "No. Not physically, anyway. I mean, I can handle a few punches, but he said a few things that stuck with me."

I stared at his blue eyes and leaned closer to him. "What did he say?"

He bit his lip, hesitantly. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. "I'd rather not discuss it."

Lowering my eyes, I nodded. I felt a bit bad that he didn't feel like sharing, but it had been a long day. Loki started to moan but he didn't wake up.

"You know what? Let's get out of here. Just you and me." Steve said, holding my hands.

I looked up at him, surprised. "Now?"

Slowly, he leaned in and pressed his lips onto mine. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck. We parted and he looked down at me, smiling.

"Let's head to your place." he said, quietly.

He held my hand and we left the room. Clint noticed us leaving and whistled. "You guys going somewhere?"

Steve turned and looked at him. "Oh, you mind taking over for us really fast?"

Clint shook his head with a smirk. "Go on. Get outta here."

He walked down the hallway and spotted Tony, heading into the cell room. "Looking for someone?"

Tony looked at him. "Yeah, you seen Steve anywhere?"

Clint chuckled. "He and Maria just left. They said they'd be back."

Tony shook his head. "Those two are just impossible, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they are. You see Wanda anywhere?"

As if on cue, Wanda appeared, reading a few papers in her hand. Clint nodded to her and she smiled. "Have you seen Steve?"

Boh men shook their heads and said he had gone. Wanda nodded and sighed.

"We're going to check on the prince of mischief. You coming?" Clint asked her.

She shrugged. "I suppose."

They all headed into the room and heard a moan. They paused when they saw Loki lift his head off the floor. He looked around and gasped when he saw that he was in a cell. He spotted the three of them and grimaced.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Well, you've been caught, Reindeer Games." Tony replied.

"What? Is this some kind of game, Stark? Why am I in a cell?" Loki asked, angrily.

He tried to get up, but he yelled in pain and stumbled back down. "My leg...it's broken."

Wanda looked at Clint and back at Loki. "Where is Fury?"

Loki grimaced. "How the hell should I know? Gte me out of here right now!"

Tony scoffed. "You're gonna play like that? I have just the thing for you. Wanda? Try to get in his mind and see if you can find Fury."

Wanda nodded and the door to the cell was opened. She stepped towards Loki who stepped away. "What are you doing? Are you guys crazy?"

Wanda wiggled her fingers at Loki's face and his eyes changed color. She closed her eyes and suddenly heard gunshots and yelling. After a moment, she gasped and stepped away. Loki caught his breath and breathed heavily.

"You think you're funny?" he panted.

Wanda stared down at Loki, shaking her head and jaw hung open. "S-Steve?"

~x~

A/N: HOLY SMOKES...Cliffhangers are fun, huh? :D Anyways, thanks for reading and more to come...