Loki was watching Britta carefully while the girl tried to ignore it. She was sitting on the jet floor, drawing with markers she had conjured up. There was no paper so she was drawing on the floor itself, making a grand masterpiece that she would regret having to clean up later. It was a very lovely picture of an Asgardian garden, one her and Loki had played in as kids. Thor would join them most of the time and they'd hold small playful battles, their young minds turning the garden into a great tropical forest. Britta smiled sadly at the memories swirling through her head, missing the simpler times when she could easily call Loki her best friend.
"Very pretty Alien." Tony said sincerely, smiling at her. His facemask was up and now Britta could see the face she had only ever seen on TV. Britta could very truthfully say that the camera didn't do him enough justice. He was much more attractive in person and the TV didn't do a very good job of showing the obvious mischievous light in his eyes when he smiled. It also didn't do a very good job of showing just how many masks the billionaire wore. Britta almost looked at him in pity as she saw through his masks to the distrusting, sad, hanging on by a loose thread man beneath.
"Alien? Is that my nickname now Metal Man?" Britta asked, smiling up at him. Tony nodded seriously, smiling at the nickname she'd given him. Britta laughed and shook her head, turning back to her picture. "Thank you by the way. It's a garden in Asgard I used to play in with my brothers." She said. Her eyes flickered up to Loki for the briefest second but Tony noticed it. He looked over at Loki and saw him staring fixedly at the girl. Fury had sent him Britta's profile while he flew to Germany and he'd carefully read the very vague profile. There'd been nothing on her character and there'd been a few things that had raised questions that the profile didn't answer. There was basically no description of the voices in her head and Tony was sure there was more to her Tesseract story than the profile had included. There'd been parts of her account cut out that Tony was sure had something to do with how she'd gotten the voices in her head.
"Your warriors must be pretty wimpy if they come from such a pretty place." Tony said jokingly, just to see how the girl would react.
Britta didn't look up at him as she added the shadow beneath a flower. "Says the man in a brightly colored shiny suit with pretty boy hair." She said, smirking a little.
Tony reached down and ruffled Britta's hair, having to be gentle since he was still wearing his suit. Britta scrunched her nose up at him but smiled, remembering how Thor used to do the same thing to annoy her. She looked up at him for a second, smiling, then turned back to her drawing. Tony smiled and walked over to the Captain, taking notice of the distrusting angry look Loki gave him. Tony wondered if that was because they'd captured him or if he didn't want the billionaire near Britta. Possibly the latter if Britta was calling him her brother. Tony stood besides the super soldier and switched between looking at Loki and looking at Britta. He wasn't one to get in other people's business, preferring to deal with his problems only, but he kind of felt like telling Loki to stop glaring at the girl. It was clearly upsetting her and her hurt expression made her look like a little kid.
Steve glanced over at Loki, completely oblivious to the glare Loki was giving Britta. "I don't like it." Steve grumbled.
"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony asked knowingly, not looking at the soldier. Britta snorted while Loki glared, not understanding the nickname but guessing it was insulting from Britta's snort. Tony shot her a smile that she seemed to easily return.
"I don't remember it being that easy." Steve said, barely looking over at Tony. Britta pressed a hand to her head as their thoughts reached her. Tony had a bit of a thing against Steve, something to do with his father always comparing him to the great Steve Rogers, but he was willing to be somewhat kind to the other man since he wasn't a self pitying kind of guy. Steve was already silently comparing Tony to Howard and thinking that the younger Stark was kind of a disappointment. Steve wanted Tony to be like Howard, needed him to be like Howard so that he'd have something, anything, that was like his old life. Britta ducked her head in shame, thinking he wouldn't have to compare Tony to Howard if she hadn't ruined his life. "This guy packs a wallop." Steve said, glancing over at the god.
Britta looked up at Loki and very nearly smiled. Back in the good old days she'd congratulate him and tell him he was getting as strong as Thor, something he'd secretly love to hear but would never admit to. Now she couldn't tell him that. Now she had to smirk at him and have an "oh yeah, sure" look on her face. Loki glared at her and she ducked her head, not wanting him to see just how much that glare hurt her. It wasn't a look she liked on her best friend's face especially when it was directed at her.
"Still you are pretty spry for an older fellow." Tony said, sounding serious. Britta smirked, getting his need to joke completely. Jokes helped you cope with feelings, things Tony didn't seem to get along with, and they were wonderful defense mechanisms. So was sarcasm. Wonderful wonderful sarcasm. "What's your thing, Pilates?" Tony asked, looking at the super soldier. Britta chuckled and shook her head, Tony was strange.
"What?" Steve asked, his tone more annoyed than confused. He didn't think this was the moment to make jokes. Not when they had a madman trying to take over the world sitting just a few feet from them in creepy silence.
"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a few things, you know," Tony looked over at Britta who was watching him carefully then back at Steve, "doing time as a Capsicle."
The nickname would have been funny if it wasn't such a low blow. To both Steve and Britta. The girl was sure Tony didn't know just how much that hurt her but it still hurt. Steve stared at Tony, glaring and then not glaring at the same time as he tried to keep a calm expression. Britta heard him think that Tony was nothing like Howard and she frowned slightly, thinking of everything she knew about the deceased Stark. She had been to the Stark Expo, had seen the genius on stage, and had even met Howard for a few minutes. He'd been a world-class perv. And arrogant. And showy. And annoying. Britta knew Tony had once been the same way but she knew he'd changed. She could feel the pain he'd gone through and the changes he'd made to himself. Britta wanted to know what had caused the pain and what exactly those changes had been but she didn't want to look through his head without permission. Learning all of Steve's mind had been an accident, a slip up of an emotional mind. He hadn't gotten mad about it but Britta had a feeling Tony would be different. He wouldn't like having his whole mind known without his permission. Anyways, thinking back to how Howard was Britta couldn't help but think it was a good thing Tony wasn't like him.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve said, flatly.
Tony chuckled a little, looking over at Loki who took no notice of him. "Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." He said. He looked back at the super soldier and gave him a pointed look.
So suddenly that Britta jumped, thunder sounded off and lightning flashed in the sky. She stared out the window in surprise while a look of worry appeared on Loki's face. He leaned forward in his seat and tilted his head slightly, as if he was listening. Britta copied him, trying to hear the telltale signs of Thor. Steve and Tony, who had been looking around in confusion, noticed them. Steve focused on Loki while Tony stared at Britta emotionlessly. Britta was surprised to hear him ask him in his head if she was alright. Britta shook her head, looking over at Loki.
"What's the matter? Afraid of a little lightning." Steve asked, sounding a little mocking. Britta glanced over at the super soldier, thinking it was kind of cruel to mock someone for their fears.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki said vaguely, looking upwards. He then looked down at Britta who was staring at him intently. Loki scrunched his eyebrows together slightly, a little signal they had come up with once her sanity was intact to tell her she could enter his thoughts. Britta did so but stayed just inside his head, ready to pull back at any second. She didn't want to go deep into his thoughts, afraid of finding madness that would leave her heart broken. "You know who it is?" He thought to her.
Britta twitched her eyes slightly, stopping herself from rolling her eyes just a second too late. "Yeah, it's Hel's pretty pink unicorn all the way from Niflheim." She sent to his head. Surprisingly Loki smiled and it wasn't crazed or dark. It was his old smile, the one she loved and returned. Their smiles didn't last long though when there was a loud thud on the roof of the jet and they both jumped, her out of surprise and him out of surprise and a tad bit of fear. Britta retreated backwards, pressing her back to the jet wall, and tugged on her braid as she stared upwards.
Tony pressed a button and the back half of the jet opened, revealing the storm cloud filled sky. "What are you doing?!" Steve shouted. Britta shook her head, unable to stop herself from thinking that Iron Man really shouldn't have done that. It would just make it so much easier for Thor to get into the jet. Britta was right too as Thor landed on the now open backside of the jet, Mjolnir in his hand. Loki stared at his brother with a bit of fear while Britta grinned wildly, overjoyed to see her used to be brother after so many years. Thor started walking into the jet and Tony seemed to instantly decide he was a threat, probably because he knew Loki was Thor's brother and thought maybe the golden haired warrior was trying to free Loki. Tony lifted up his hand, preparing to blast Thor with his repulsor, but Thor hit him in the stomach with Mjolnir. Tony went flying backwards and hit the floor with a loud thud.
Without even glancing at the others in the jet, Thor walked over to Loki and ripped him out of the straps keeping him seated. Thor grabbed his brother by the throat before dragging him towards the back of the jet. Loki gave Britta one last look before Thor flew out of the jet, flying straight towards the ground. Britta stared after them with a mixture of shock and happiness. For a second her boys, her two greatest friends, her brothers, had been in the same place as her once again. Then one brother grabbed the other by the throat and then they were gone. Britta slowly got to her feet as Tony got to his.
"And now there's that guy." Tony mumbled, just barely audible over the noise of the storm outside.
"Another Asgardian?!" Natasha shouted, looking back at them.
Tony looked over at Britta and saw the smile spread across her face. For a second Tony wondered if she was glad Loki had been taken but then he realized by the shocked light in her eyes that that wasn't the case. Steve didn't seem to notice though. "Think that guy's a friendly?!" The super soldier asked.
"Doesn't matter." Tony said, turning away from Britta to look at Steve. He wasn't about to draw attention to the girl just in case the others in the jet didn't notice the shock and started treating her as a potential threat. "If he frees Loki or kills him the Tesseract's lost." Having said that, Tony turned around and headed to the back of the jet.
"Stark! We need a plan of attack." Steve said, staring after the infamous Iron Man. Britta rolled her eyes, knowing that the idea of stopping and making up a plan was stupid. They didn't have time for that.
"I have a plan." Tony answered and Britta grinned wildly, knowing where he was going with this. "Attack." The billionaire said before leaping out of the jet.
Britta smiled after Tony. Now that was definitely someone she could get along with. She started walking towards the back of the jet, intent on following the boys, but Steve stopped her by grabbing her arm. Britta turned to face him, glaring slightly at how tightly he was holding onto her arm. "You're not going down there." The super soldier said firmly.
Britta's glare intensified. "Of course I am." She said in a scarily cheerful voice. This was not the forties. Women, not just Peggy, were tough and willing to enter battle. And Britta was thousands and thousands of years older than Steve and had seen many more battles than him. Britta yanked her arm out of his grip and grinned at him in a way that made him flinch back. She had sworn to protect him but that didn't mean she was going to let him boss her around. "After all, those are my best friends down there." Britta said cheerfully. With a cheeky grin directed at Agent Romanoff, Britta threw herself out of the jet and cast a spell to give herself temporary flight. She waved cheerfully to Steve before taking off towards her old friends.
"That woman." Steve grumbled in anger, shaking his head. He walked over to the parachutes sitting on a shelf and grabbed one, thinking that there was no way he was going to let everyone else fight while he stayed on the jet.
Natasha glanced back at Steve, pulling a lever as she did. "I'd sit this one out Cap." She told him, pressing a few buttons overhead.
Steve didn't look up at her, too focused on trying to strap on the parachute. "I don't see how I can." He answered.
"These guys come from legend, they're basically gods." Natasha argued, looking back at him with a serious expression on her face. She had stopped pressing buttons for a second, probably to show Steve just how serious she was about him staying on the jet. A slight bit of irritation appeared on her face when he just tugged the parachute's straps tighter around him.
"There's only one God ma'am," Steve grabbed his shield, "and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." With that the Captain turned around and walked to the back of the jet. Without a backward glance he dived out of the jet, heading straight down to join the idiots who had left the jet before him.
You know a thought occurred to me a little bit ago. Britta's got voices in her head. So like what if one of the guys, I don't know who, ended up liking one of them? Probably Nanna since Grid wants to kill all of them...Stupid Grid. Anyways, chocolate for all my readers!
