"I do not know what my brother has planned. I can assure you of that much," Thor informed the team as they stood in the high tech lab and Bruce continued his work, trying to search for Loki, just like before. The equipment was clearly more advanced than that what was found on the hellicarrier and Bruce had to admit that it was quite interesting to work with. So far there had been no sign of Loki. It seemed as if the God didn't want to be found this time.
"And how exactly did he escape?" Stark wondered; his arms folded and a shrug coming from his shoulders as Thor turned his eyes onto the man and glared at him. Stark once again found himself holding his hands up in surrender at what he was seeing. "What?" he wondered. "I'm curious to know how he managed to worm his way back onto Earth after you claimed that you had tighter security in your dungeon."
"My brother is many things," Thor admitted. "Deceitful is one of them."
"I can think of a whole range of things which your brother is," Tony muttered and Thor jutted his chin out, annoyed with the man's thinking.
"Be careful how you speak," he warned him and Bruce rolled his eyes softly, typing away on his computer as he continued to eavesdrop into the conversation. He found it odd and amazing how Thor would never hear a bad word against his brother, even after all that he had done.
"Loki's been causing us nothing but trouble," Clint spoke up and Natasha looked at him wearily as he folded his arms against his chest and stared at Thor who returned his look, their eyes evenly matching and challenging as they did so. "I don't think we need to be careful how we speak about him now, do you?"
"He is still of Asgard," Thor defended and Stark snorted, waving his hand as he walked to a computer next to Bruce and began to look onto what the man was doing.
"He's on Earth now. We'll be taking care of him and doing your work for you, as per usual."
"You need to learn how to hold your tongue," Thor hissed and Natasha allowed herself to scoff at hearing that. Stark would never be able to keep his mouth shut. Everyone's eyes then turned onto her and she coughed softly and looked away, not meeting them.
"My brother has appeared to have become unreasonable. I may not know how to change this, but, I shall help to find him," Thor declared as the door suddenly burst open. He looked over to Steve as he panted for breath and then he finally returned his glance, Steve's eyes full of hatred and anger as he did so. He quickly moved over to Thor, standing tall and narrowing his piercing blue eyes in his direction, the hatred completely recognisable.
"Your brother has taken my friend," Steve snapped out and Bruce slid off from the stool he was sat on whilst Tony looked upwards, completely confused as to what was happening. Thor raised a blonde brow at hearing him and Steve continued to talk, the anger inside of him causing him to well up as he thought about what could have happened to Elizabeth.
None of this was his fault. He kept on telling himself that. He wanted to live a normal life. He had wanted to tell her who he was but he knew that he couldn't. S.H.I.E.L.D. had ruined him if he had lost her, he knew that much.
"Slow down," Natasha declared, seeing that the man who had once led them needing someone to lead him. His eyes widened as he looked across to her and she crossed her legs at the ankles, waiting for some clarification into what had happened. "What's happened, Steve?"
"Elizabeth has gone," Steve spoke simply. "I went to her apartment and there was nothing there-"
"-Maybe she went for a walk?" Clint suggested and Tony snorted, shaking his head and moving to stand next to Steve.
"You don't go for a walk at night in NY," he said back to him. "We know it is the city that never sleeps but only in some parts. Where she lives then it isn't logical."
"And her purse was in the hallway," Steve said just as the automatic doors opened and Fury entered, the leather coat swishing behind him as per usual and Steve turned onto him, his blood seeming to heat up in his veins as he did so.
"What is going on in here?" Fury demanded.
"Steve's girl has been kidnapped," Tony said and Fury froze, his spine stiffen and his whole posture turning rigid as he did so
"And do we know that for-"
"-Yes!" Steve interrupted before he could even gain the chance to finish the sentence he was going to speak. He knew she had been kidnapped. He was one hundred per cent sure of it. And he knew that it was Loki. Everything about the entire situation had him written all over it. "I know she has been kidnapped and know it is Loki! Where else could she be?"
"I don't know," Fury replied. "This city is massive, Rogers. What would Loki want with your girl?"
"I don't know!" Steve snapped back at him and Banner blinked profusely at what he was seeing. He had never seen Steve so wound up before or so emotional. It was almost nerve wrecking to watch. "I don't know what Loki wants with Lizzie! All I know is that it can't be anything good! You should have let me tell her! You should never have made me keep this secret!"
"This is not my fault, Captain," Fury sniped back. "I didn't ask for your girl to be kidnapped, did I?"
"You never helped to stop him! If I told her...if she knew...if she knew me...then maybe...maybe she'd still be here..."
Tony placed a firm hand onto the Captain's back, his feeble attempt at soothing him as he looked back at him and Stark nodded once, trying to assure him that everything would be okay. Why shouldn't the guy get emotional every now and then? It only made sense. He may be a laboratory experiment but he still had feelings.
"I don't know where Loki is," Fury informed Steve, looking at the soldier who had taken a deep breath in his feeble attempt to calm himself down. He would find her. He would find her if it was the last thing which he did, he knew that much. "And we don't know if he has your girl or not. We have no evidence. Until we find him then we don't assume anything. Understand me, Rogers?"
"I don't see why we're not assuming," Steve spoke back, his teeth gritted together in annoyance and Fury pursed his lips, truly annoyed by Rogers outburst. The disappearance of his girlfriend had nothing to do with him and insinuating anything otherwise wound Fury up and over the edge.
"Assumptions can be wrong and often dangerous. I know this is hard for you, Captain. You seem to care a lot about Miss Meyer. But, finding Loki is priority number one, do you all understand me?"
No one said anything but there were some nods. Even Stark just nodded at hearing Fury, knowing full well that Steve's number one priority was finding Loki because he knew Elizabeth would be with him.
Fury looked at them for one final sweep and left the room, needing to inform the other agents of the business involving Loki.
"He really can grate on you after a while," Banner spoke, moving past Steve and Tony to another computer whilst Barton and Natasha moved off into a corner, their hands covering their mouths as they whispered to one another. Thor walked back over to Steve, looking at him with something resembling sympathy.
"You believe my brother has taken your girlfriend?" he checked and Tony rolled his eyes, folding his arms across his chest as he did so.
"Well, obviously," he spoke slowly and deliberately. "Where have you been for that entire conversation?"
"She's not my girlfriend," Steve interjected.
"She's as good as," Tony declared to him. "The pair of them are inseparable and Steve dotes upon her every word even if she is a cynical waitress."
"Do not talk about her like that," Steve hissed and Tony outstretched his hand as if to offer Thor something. Which he had done.
"See," he said and Thor nodded, his finger resting on his lips as he did so.
"My brother must have a plan if he took this Miss Meyer," Thor informed Steve who nodded in agreement with him. "The grudge which he has is not against you, Captain. It is against myself as I am his brother. I am the one who took him back to Asgard and punished him."
"You see, there is the issue," Tony pointed out. "He has an issue with us all. We all beat him, didn't we? He's hurting us via those who we care about. This is Loki. He knows exactly how to get what he wants, doesn't he? Clearly he thinks that by taking those who we love will cause us to worry and then not be as effective as before. I mean, look at the Cap. He's going crazy already. None of us are thinking clearly knowing the people we love are in trouble...holy crap..."
Before Steve or Thor had the chance to say anything Tony had pulled his phone out from his pocket and had it pressed to his ear. He allowed it to ring for several seconds and then hung up, looking around at everyone in the room.
"Pepper," Steve suddenly whispered after a moment and Tony looked at him without saying anything.
...
Elizabeth had remained seated on the floor after eating the meal which had resembled nothing like what she would normal cook. It had disappeared as soon as the food had gone and she'd sighed to herself, leaning back before she heard someone shout out loud. She could tell it was another woman as the glass seemed to part. She wondered if she could make it out, but then two people came into vision. There was a man and another man holding a blond woman by her arms and dragging her forwards whilst Loki remained in the background and she kept yelling at him.
"I've brought you a friend to play with," Loki smiled tauntingly, his eyes never Lizzie's as the woman fell into the cage. Lizzie walked over to her, offering her a hand and helping her back to her feet as the pair of them turned to look at Loki.
"What's the point in this?" Elizabeth snapped, recognising the woman to be the one and only Pepper Potts. Tony Stark's girlfriend and former CEO.
"Iron Man's girlfriend along with Captain America's girlfriend," Loki clarified. "The two of you are quite the catch to lure the superheroes in with."
"Steve isn't Captain America!" Elizabeth snapped at him, walking forwards to the edge of the glass and hitting it with her fist just like Steve had taught her. It didn't do anything, but, it did make her feel a little less frustrated. "How many times do I have to tell you?"
Pepper remained silent as she felt Loki look onto her, knowing that she knew exactly who he was. Stark wasn't exactly quiet when it came to information and she knew all about the entire Avengers initiative. She wasn't as naive as she was playing.
"You don't need to tell me anymore times," Loki promised her, his head nodding over to where Pepper stood. "Miss Potts shall tell you everything which you need to know."
Elizabeth turned around to look at Pepper who was staring at her with wide eyes, wondering why she didn't know. She was aware of how S.H.I.E.L.D. was run and they were secretive. But, Steve surely should have told her. And she shouldn't have been finding out like this.
"I'll leave you two to talk," Loki chuckled and walked off whilst Elizabeth felt her knees become slightly weak, realising that Pepper was the sane one out of her and Loki. And she wasn't denying anything.
...
A/N: Oh dear again! Thanks to Guest, crzyjllybn, Ryn of Magic, StrengthInAtrophy, H.E. Vaughn, Natashafan23, stinkysox, ZOMG its Angie and miller330 for reviewing!
Seriously, every review means a lot to me! Hope you're still enjoying! Can't wait for the next one!