Steve, Tony, Bruce, Scott and I all warped to a city street not far from Avengers tower. The Chitauri had already started coming down from the portal, and Hulk could be heard smashing through the enemy in the distance.
"All right, we all have our assignments." Steve said as we all disengaged our Quantum suits to reveal the outfits underneath. "Two stones uptown, one stone, down. Stay low. Keep an eye on the clock."
As Steve finished his speech, 2012 Hulk came smashing through the street adjacent to us, destroying a car before leaping away. Bruce put a hand over his face, obviously embarrassed at his past self's behavior.
"Feel free to smash things along the way." Steve suggested.
"I think it's gratuitous," Bruce said, removing his shirt to more closely resemble his past self. "But whatever."
Bruce continued to pretend to smash a car in a sarcastic manner. He lightly punched the vehicle, making a small dent, all the while making ridiculous growling noises. He picked up a motorbike and threw it at a wall, wincing as it made contact. It took a lot of my self-control to not laugh at his feigned outburst.
Steve and I began making our approach to Avengers Tower, and Tony took to the sky in his Iron Man armor, with Scott tagging along for the ride in miniature form. Steve and I sneaked into the tower, riding in an elevator up a few floors before getting out and walking down hallways I had never seen before.
"Got to hustle, Cap." Tony said into the coms, "Things look like they're just about wrapped up here."
"Got it." Steve replied, "I'm approaching the elevator now."
"Uh, Mr. Rogers." Tony continued, "I almost forgot that that suit did nothing for your ass."
"No one asked you to look, Tony." Steve sighed, causing me to smile.
"I think you look great, Cap." Scott interjected, chipper as ever. "As far as I'm concerned, that's America's ass."
"Who are these guys?" Scott asked, doubtless meaning the Shield agents that Steve and I were soon to meet.
"They are Shield…Well, actually Hydra." Tony answered. "But, we didn't know that yet."
"Seriously, you didn't?" Scott said, "I mean… they look like bad guys."
"Tell me about it." I added, laughing.
"You're small, but you're talking loud." Tony cautioned. "And I was a little more concerned with you at the time, Loki. You did just throw me out of a building."
"Ladies." Steve cautioned.
"Alright, you're up, little buddy." Tony said, "There's our stone."
"Alright, flick me." Scott said.
After a moment's pause, Tony leapt from the tower, the suit carrying him safely down.
"All right, Cap, Loki. I got our scepter in the elevator just passing the 80th floor." Tony said as he continued down to his next destination.
"On it." Steve said. "Head to the lobby."
"Alright," Tony agreed. "See you there."
I shifted my appearance to that of a Shield agent, and followed Steve to the elevator doors. As the doors opened, the agent in charge seemed surprised to see Steve.
"Captain. I thought you were coordinating search and rescue?" he asked, bewildered.
"Change of plans." Steve said as we entered the elevator.
"Hey, Cap." one of the others nodded.
I looked around the elevator briefly, only to be shell shocked. (Y/N) stood in the corner, leaning against the wall with another agent offering minimal support. She looked every bit as beautiful as I had remembered her, and it took everything within me to not audibly gasp.
"I just got a call from the secretary." Steve said, pulling my attention away from (Y/N) for a moment. "I'm gonna be running point on the scepter."
"Sir?" the agent said, doubtful. "I don't understand."
"We got word that there may be an attempt to steal it." I added, hoping that direct truth would be enough to confuse them into listening.
"I'm sorry Cap." the agent named Rumlow said. "I can't give you the scepter."
"I'm gonna have to call the Director." the first agent said, moving to pull out his phone.
"That's okay. Trust me." Steve said, leaning over to whisper into the agent's ear, "Hail Hydra."
The agents seem completely mystified. They hand over the case to Steve, and we waited for our floor to arrive. I glanced back at (Y/N) once more, who was already looking at me. I offered a brief smile, and my heart ached at my inability to say anything, or even touch her. She smiled at me warmly in return, reaching out to touch my hand. I was startled by her action, but had no time to react before our stop arrived, and Steve and I exited the elevator.
"Are you alright here?" I asked Steve, reverting back to my normal self once the elevator doors had closed once more. "There's something else I'd like to do quickly."
"I'll be fine, yeah." Steve answered. Just don't mess anything up."
"Wouldn't dream of it." I said, before teleporting to the bottom of the building. I transfigured to being a Shield agent once more, only this time, I kept my real facial features and only changed my clothing. I walked into the bottom floor of the tower, watching for the elevator that (Y/N) was riding in. As they exited, only two agents guided her out, and I approached them, masking my voice.
"I'll take her from here." I said, gently grabbing her arm from the others.
"Affirmative." one of the agents said, "The ambulance is waiting for her around the corner."
The agents turned to leave, and I began walking with her. Once we were out of the building and almost to the ambulance, I stopped.
"Are you going to tell me how you managed to escape this time?" She asked, pulling the goggles away from my face.
Before I could verbally work up a response, I wrapped her up in my arms as tightly as I could without hurting her. I inhaled deeply, the floral scent of her hair instantly relaxing me.
"How did you recognise me earlier?" I asked, drinking in every second of being in her presence. "I didn't even look like myself. How did you know it was me?"
"Your eyes." she smiled, leaning away from me. She looked at me closer, slightly confused. "When did your hair get so long?"
"I can't really explain." I said, "And I can't really stay. Just promise me you'll be alright?"
"You… you're not my Loki are you?" she asked. "You're not from now, that's how your hair is so long. Where-when are you from?"
"Always so perceptive." I mumbled, smiling. "I'm not from now, no. But I wanted to see you again while I was here."
"Am I not around where you're from?" she asked, her face falling.
"Not by choice." I answered. "But that's why we came here, to amend that. Among other things. I have to leave now, my lo-…" I paused, catching myself. At this point, (Y/N) might not have had any real feelings for me yet, and I didn't want to mess anything up. "I have to go. Stay safe."
I pressed my lips firmly to her forehead, breathing her sweet scent in, wishing so strongly that I could stay. She gave me her dazzling smile, and I finished walking her to the ambulance that would take her to the hospital. As the EMTs closed the doors, my comm buzzed in my ear.
"Yes, Steve, are we ready to leave?" I asked.
"Meet us in the alley." Steve said, his voice troubled.
I teleported there, to be met with Tony and Scott sitting in a wrecked car, and Steve pacing back and forth.
"Give me a break, Steve." Tony said, "I just got hit in the head with a Hulk."
"You said that we had one shot." Steve argued. "Are there any other options with the Tesseract?"
"No, no, no. There's no other options." Scott said, "There's no do-overs. We're not going anywhere else. We have one particle left. Each. That's it, alright? We use that… Bye, bye. You're not going home."
"Yeah well if we don't try," Steve countered, "No one else is going home, either."
"Is there a way to get more Pym particles?" I offered, "Are there any here in New York right now?"
"None." Scott groaned. "We screwed up. We screwed up big."
"I got it." Tony said, pointing to me. "There is another way. To retake the Tesseract, and acquire new particles. We'll stroll down memory lane, Steve. Military installation, Garden State."
"When were they both there?" Steve asked.
"They were there at a…" Tony trailed off. "I've got a vaguely exact idea."
"How vague?" Steve pressed.
"What are we doing?" Scott asked, frustrated.
"And I know how I know." Tony continued to Steve.
"Guys, what's up?" Scott asked, "What is it?"
"Well, it looks like we're improvising." Steve said.
"Right." Scott agreed. "What are we improvising?"
"You two aren't improvising anything." Tony said, gesturing to Steve.
Steve tossed the scepter to me, "Loki, Scott, get this to the compound."
"Suit up." Tony said, activating his Quantum suit. "0-4…" he began reading off numbers to Steve, which Steve repeated back as he punched them into his Quantum suit.
"Are you sure?" Scott interjected, "Cap. Captain. Steve, sorry, America. Rogers. Look, if you do this, and it doesn't work, you're not coming back."
"Yea thanks for the pep talk, pissant." Tony whined.
"Do you trust me?" Tony asked Steve."
"I do." Steve replied.
"Your call."
"Here we go." Steve said, counting off our departures.
We were sucked back into the Quantum tunnel, instantly spat back out onto the platform.
"Did we get them all?" Bruce asked, holding the time stone gingerly.
"You telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey said, removing his helmet.
My eyes came to a halt on Barton, who stood staring down, fighting down tears. One by one, everyone else noticed what was amiss.
"Clint, where's Nat?" Bruce asked.
Clint's silence told everyone all that they needed to know. They had completed their mission, but at a dire cost. Bruce fell to his knees, pounding the platform with his fist in grief.
After placing the stones in safe containers, we walked out to the lake next to the Compound, Tony, Steve, Thor, Clint, and Bruce all choosing to mourn Natasha together on the dock.
"Do we know if she had a family?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, us." Steve answered.
"What?" Thor asked, confused.
"I just asked him a question…" Tony replied, just as confused.
"Yea, but you're acting like she's dead. Why are we acting like she's dead?" Thor asked, his anger slowly building. "We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn't that right? So stop this shit. We're the avengers, get it together."
"We can't get her back." Clint said horsley.
"Wha-what?" Thor responded.
"It can't be undone." he repeated, "It can't."
Thor laughed dryly. "I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being, okay? We're talking about space magic. "Can't" seems very definitive, don't you think?"
"Look, I know that I'm way outside my paygrade here, but she still isn't here, is she?" Clint snapped back.
"Now that's my point-"
"It can't… be undone. Or, at least that's what the, the red floating guy had to say." Clint said, beginning to shout. "Maybe you wanna go talk to him? Okay? Go grab your hammer, and you go fly and you talk to him."
Clint's face fell, his voice shifting from anger to grief.
"It was supposed to be me. She sacrificed herself for that goddamned stone." he choked out. "She bet her life on it."
Bruce let out his first real outburst since we had began, throwing a bench across the lake. His anger spent, he turned to the rest of us with a sorrowful, resigned look across his face.
"She's not coming back." he sighed. "We have to make it worth it. We have to."
"We will." Steve confirmed.
"Let's get this done." Tony said, getting up and walking back to the compound.