Germany. 2012.
The lights of the grand building came into view before the large crowd of people cowering in the car park in front of Loki did. I switched the long-range speakers, so we could hear what he was saying as we lowered our altitude and began to hover above, the air from the jets attracting some of the crowd's attention, however most of them kept their terrified stares on Loki.
"Fly or shoot?" Natasha asked as I flicked the switch to lower the landing gear, there was no clear space to do so, but we had our orders from Fury. As soon as civilian life was no longer under threat, retrieve the target and bring him back to base.
"I think I'll fly." I said simply, not taking my eyes away from the figure on the ground who was now manoeuvring between the crowd.
"Handing over flight controls to you then, I'll take the gun."
"Roger that." I smirked as I felt my controls vibrate to life, the jet wobbled slightly before I tightened my grip and it levelled out. I glanced out of the window as Loki raised his staff and had it aimed at an old man who had defied his orders and got to his feet.
"Where the hell is he?" I asked rhetorically, we had flown Steve here, but he had jumped from the jet a few moments ago and I couldn't pick out the stars and striped from the crowd. "We can't have civilian deaths on our hands."
Just as I spoke a beam of energy erupted from the end of the staff Loki was holding but before it could strike the man it had been aimed for, Steve dropped down in front of him with his shield raised. The energy ricocheted off the Vibranium shield and back to the god, knocking him to the floor. Natasha and I watched with baited breath as Steve approached him.
"He's doing well for his first run." Natasha commented. I nodded in agreement.
"I guess he's doing what he does best. Fighting for a good cause. Even if he has been out of the job for over half a century." We smiled to each other before I noticed a flash of blue heading straight for us, pulling my controls stiffly to the left, I quickly manoeuvred us out of the path of the energy beam.
People began to scatter as a fight between Steve and Loki ensued.
"I can't get a fix on the scope. He keeps moving too much." Natasha commented as she tried to aim the large gun hanging from the belly of the jet.
"Civilians are still too close, we don't want debris to hit any of them." I pushed down on the control to lower the jet further to the ground, but the power of the engines made it harder to control and hold steady. I opened my mouth to comment further before I heard music beginning to fade into my headphones.
"What is that?"
"Hello Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?"
I glanced to Natasha as a smile spread across her lips and AC/DC became louder. The PR system in the jet took on a life of its own as I looked out of my side window and saw the beam of light and jet-stream that followed Tony Stark as he flew in from behind a high-rise and shot down Loki who finally held his hands up in defeat. His horned helmet vanished along his with long cloak and he instead donned the attire of a relatively normal man. Natasha and I shared a smirk and a side glance as I finally landed the jet on the plaza.
Natasha went straight out and retrieved the staff as Steve guided a now handcuffed Loki onto the jet. I quickly jumped from my seat to check no damage had been caused from the energy beam as the Tony's face was revealed under the Iron Man mask. He didn't waste any time with polite formalities, but I had read Nat's initial assessment of him, so I knew exactly what to expect.
"Does Fury just recruit red-head ex-assassins? Is that his type? Is that the job requirement when you join SHIELD?" I rolled my eyes and ignored the comments as I pulled my weight up onto the wing.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Stark."
"Of course, it is. I'm always pleasurable to interact with." He retorted without a moment's hesitation.
"Mm. Agent Romanoff said you'd say something along those lines."
"What else did she say?" he smirked up at me and I arched an eyebrow before nodding to myself, content that no damage had been caused by the near hit. I jumped down and made my way back into the jet.
"Don't worry. She told me the exact truth." I smirked as I glanced at Loki who was being strapped onto the bench. Natasha was securing his staff in a metal case that she sealed with a fingerprint padlock as I sat back down and began the take-off protocol once again.
"Romanoff, I can't believe you never introduced me to, Miss…Mrs?" He prompted.
"Agent. Marakova." Tony nodded and offered his hand which I politely shook. I was nothing if not entirely pleasant to most people I came across, it helped avoid suspicion. Steve was smiling slightly as he watched the interaction.
"What?" I questioned as Tony turned his attention to the staff and Natasha took her seat.
"Nothing. You just reminded me of someone then, that's all." He smiled genuinely, and I couldn't help but offer a small smile in return before sitting next to Natasha and closing the loading doors at the back of the jet and we took off again.
My eyebrows furrowed as I examined the weather map in front of me. Seconds ago, the skies had been clear dark cloud was scattered amongst the darkness in front of us but within moments an entire storm system had appeared out of nowhere.
"Nat..." I began before a bolt of lightning shot through the sky in front of us shortly before a weight dropped onto the top of the jet, causing an alarm to sound and the aircraft to veer off to one side due to the apparent additional weight.
"What the hell?" I questioned as autopilot failed and I assumed manual control whilst Natasha began to flick various switches and increasing bolts of lightning began to flash around us. I heard the familiar metal clunking of Tony's suit as he walked to the back of the jet. He flicked the loading door opened and I grimaced as the freezing air filled the cabin.
Decompression signals began to beep as Tony and Steve stood bickering in the back of the head snapped back as the back of the jet once again dropped briefly and I saw a man stood with a large hammer in hand. He wasted no time in striking Tony with it, yanking Loki up from his chair and jumping out the back of the jet.
"More Asgardians?" Natasha called over the sound of the wind. I silently cursed as Steve and Tony began to have a petty dispute over the best course of action before Tony made the decision for himself and jumped from the jet. Natasha turned to speak to Steve as I radioed through to Fury.
"We've lost Loki."
"What?!" I heard the strain on his voice before he went quiet and spoke again; "How did you lose him?"
"He was stolen, another Asgardian, we think. He literally jumped into the back of the jet and jumped back out with Loki. Stark's gone after them now…and so has Rogers."
"Fine. You two just get back here." I cast a glance to Natasha as I pulled back on the throttle of the jet.
"Should we help them?" Natasha asked slowly. I chewed my lip and a small shiver went over my skin as a final gust of cold wind washed over me.
"No. Two gods, a super soldier and a heated Iron Man suit? They'll be fine." I pressed forward on the throttle and the jet flew back to helicarrier.
My back was to the glass of Bruce's lab as Loki was marched past, several guards both in front and behind him. He looked up briefly from his feet to smile through the windows of the lab towards the anxious scientist who was watching Natasha unlock the case containing the alien staff. Loki didn't look at me, in fact he acted as though I wasn't even there. All his attention was trained on Bruce until he went out of sight. I glanced at the weary physicist as he took of his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Are you…okay?" I questioned cautiously. Even though I was never going to have been the one to retrieve him for this mission, I had made sure to read up on the history of the Hulk and it was not a happy one. A troubled past was something I was all too familiar with, but despite it, Bruce Banner was a charming and overly kind person. The same thing couldn't be said of me. I cleared my throat and offered a distraction to the work he was slaving over.
"Come on. Fury wants to debrief on the bridge."
I made sure I was always a few steps ahead of him until I took my seat next to Natasha and she pushed the tablet over towards me. Loki was safely in his cage and contained. But he hadn't lost his arrogance at all, in fact, he looked directly into the camera's as he conversed with Fury clearly knowing we were all watching. It was like a performance to him and he was very comfortable in the spotlight. I found my hand wandering to the small chain around my neck, a tiny red star adorned my necklace and it was the only thing I had left of my mother. Fury had gifted it to me when I'd completed my first mission as a SHIELD agent and even though I'd had to vow to leave that life behind when I'd signed on, it was a comfort and a reminder of the country that made me the person I was today. I leaned over to Natasha as I spotted the God who had dented the top of our jet stood with concern etched on his face.
"Thor. Loki's brother. Prince of Asgard." She muttered quickly. I nodded in understanding and turned my attention back to the tablet only to have the image vanish moments later. I found my mind wandering as general discussion took over the table on how to best handle Loki. Maria silently stepped climbed the steps and joined us as Tony and Agent Coulson also joined the group. Natasha turned to me and muttered under her breath;
"U menya yest' ideya o tom, kak dobrat'sya do Loki"
"Da?" I replied, hoping no one else could hear us. Conversing in Russian was a small thing we had to ourselves, the continuation of our native language and it worked well for covert phone calls or just when we needed to make new recruits squirm if they got a little too big for their boots.
"Come on." We both rose from the table and slipped away.
"So, what's your plan?" I asked her as we headed away from the bridge and into a more secluded area of the helicarrier.
"Weakness. Loki's main goal is to be a step above the rest and right now he thinks that we think we're above him. I'll go to him, ask for his help and he won't be able to resist. Who can resist the helpless little girl?" she smirked, and I couldn't help but return her gesture.
"No one I've ever met, hence why they're all dead. And we play the helpless little girl so well." She nodded in agreement as we both switched our earpieces onto private frequencies.
"That we do."
There was nothing wrong with what Natasha and I were doing but if it was to fail, it was better that we would be the only two to know. I switched on the monitor to a private feed as Natasha silently invaded the room that held Loki. I listened in to their conversation as I made sure to stay out of sight in the small observation room. Eventually, after Natasha's A* acting, Loki revealed his true intent.
"I'll let Fury know." I replied as Natasha headed a different direction up to the lab.
Just as I opened the door and slipped out I was met face to face with Steve who looked angrier than I'd ever seen him before. I glanced down at his hand and my eyebrows furrowed when I saw an old 1940's HYDRA weapon.
"Where did you get that?" I questioned, casually flicking my hair over the earpiece, concealing it from view.
"Secure storage. I don't think we've been properly introduced. I mean, you know who I am. Everyone does. But there's very little I genuinely know about SHIELD, including who you are."
"Elena. Agent Marakova to most." He held out his hand and shook mine with a firm grip. Had he not been so obviously angry, the situation might have been a little funny.
"Tell me, Elena. Why does SHIELD have an entire storage unit full of HYDRA weapons from the war?" I shrugged my shoulders and played it off as meaningless whilst wondering the exact same thing myself.
"HYDRA fell after the war and SHIELD was established soon after. Howard Stark was one of the founders and he took it upon himself to retrieve all HYDRA weapons and technology of any kind, so it couldn't fall into the wrong hands again. They can't destroy it because there is still residual tesseract energy in the weapons."
"They were used to kill people! Why would you want to keep them at all?"
"Concentration camps were used for the exact same reason and millions of people travel to them every year. Why? To learn from the mistakes of the past."
Turning on my heel I headed towards the bridge where I knew I would find Fury. Steve didn't follow, and I felt myself exhale a breath I didn't realise I'd been holding in. I hadn't entirely believed my own words but what I'd said was true enough.
I covered ground twice as fast as usual but was only met with Maria once I got to the bridge.
"Where's Fury?" I questioned. She turned from the monitor that was replaying back Natasha and Loki's conversation so without waiting for her answer I jogged up to the lab and was confronted with a room of arguing people when I got there.
"Leyna, tell them that SHIELD monitors all potential threats." Natasha said over the voices of Steve, Tony, Fury and Thor who all appeared to be bickering about different subjects.
"What and Captain America is on that list?" Bruce questioned.
"We all are." I agreed. "That's how they found me, anyone who could potentially be a threat or ally to SHIELD is constantly monitored. No, I don't agree with it but better the devil you know."
I went quiet as the argument centred on Tony and Steve and then back to Bruce. It was clear his temper was rising as he looked between each of us. My hand instinctively went to my gun as he took a step back to the table and reached behind him, taking hold of the sceptre and tightening his grip around it. The arguments in the room reduced to silence as all attention turned to him.
"Dr. Banner…" Fury began.
"Put down the sceptre." Steve finished. Bruce looked down at his own hand as if had worked of its own accord. Hesitantly he placed it back on the table as a beeping from his monitor sounded. As soon as he had reached it, an explosion ripped through the lab and we were all thrown in various directions. The heat from the fire was almost unbearable but I focused my attention in on my earpiece, hearing confirmation of an attack from outside the carrier. My attention peaked when Fury got to my name.
"Marakova. I want your eyes on Loki. He doesn't leave your sight. Coulson will be with you soon."
"Got it." I pulled myself to my feet and weaved through the other agents rushing about, making my way to the detention area.
Translation : "I have an idea on how to get through to Loki."
Ok, so I know not a lot happened, but it's kind of setting up for the next chapter where many things will most certainly be happening. So, bear with it!
As always guys, if you like it, please continue to support me by leaving reviews, no matter how critical or if it's just to say you like it, they really all do mean so much!