It was still dark when she woke up. One would assume that all the sleeping on the ground back on the island – and on the floor the whole last year – should prepare her for this ordeal, but there was a slight difference between grass or carpet and bare concrete and even Loki's arm under her head didn't do much to improve the experience.
She sat up and Loki opened his eyes.
"Go back to sleep, I'm going to get some water and I'll be right back," she whispered, pulling off the thin blanket they were supposed to share and arranging it over his shoulders. Then, unable to hold it back, she traced the line of his eyebrow and let her hand linger on his temple. Everyone was still sleeping anyway, judging from the sounds of snoring.
It was too dark to see his expression, but fingers snaking up her neck and running through her hair gave her enough of an idea. She smiled, biting down the words that threatened to spill out. Loki didn't need pompous declarations. He didn't need to hear about her sentiments. He needed his life and freedom back and she was going to make sure he got it.
It was still an effort to pull away. She got up and skulked to the door, low on her feet. The door wailed on its rusty hinges and there was a groan from the room, as Clint turned to his side. She stayed, listening, but he didn't wake up, so she slunk away.
"Natasha," Steve's voice welcomed her, and she jumped in place, reaching for her holster. It was empty; she left her gun under her bag that served as a pillow.
He was standing by the boarded-up window, his face painted with strips of warm light that seeped through the cracks.
She sighed and went over to him. "Can't sleep?"
"I don't need as much sleep as I used to."
"Same," she said with a chortle.
"I owe you an apology," he said and let out a breath, "for the things I said last week. I crossed a line I shouldn't have."
"It's okay. I shouldn't snap at you either," she admitted, quietly. "We can all play it tough, but this is a stressful situation, and the future is uncertain. You wouldn't be a human being if it didn't make you a bit tense. You were worried about someone you care about and so was I."
"It's not an excuse. I know how it feels…" He paused and rubbed his eyes, then chuckled nervously. "I know how it feels to love someone and have the entire world against you. It was wrong to use it as I did."
"Well, to be fair, Loki did try to conquer our planet not that long ago. It takes a while to get over that. Believe me, I would know."
"He is lucky…"
"Yeah, yeah, he is lucky to have me. Sam told me that already. The thing is – that's bullshit. He wouldn't be in this entire mess if it weren't for me."
"Where would he be, then?"
She blinked, unsure what to answer. What would've changed if she listened to the specter earlier? Would it be soon enough for Thor to still be around? If it were, could they convince him? Would she even want to convince him without knowing everything she learned later, or would she just allow him to take Loki to Asgard? And if they were too late, would SHIELD let Loki go if she were there to vouch for him? That didn't seem probable. Would Stark be able to find the place Loki was kept in earlier, when they still didn't know where in the world it was located? Was there a way to reach him earlier if she did a better job at exploring her powers?
"I don't know," she admitted. Perhaps he would be imprisoned on Asgard, or dead already. Perhaps he would be free. There was no way to tell.
"There was no single day since I woke up when I didn't ask myself 'what if I saved Bucky that day?' What if I didn't let him fall?" Steve said, his eyes shiny in the faint light. "But it never brought me any peace, just more grief."
"You got him back," she pointed out. "That's what counts."
Steve shook his head. "Bucky was never mine to begin with. Seventy years have passed for the world and I'm afraid I'd never be able to undo that damage, even if I knew how."
"So, you two never…"
He shook his head again. "It was a different time. I knew since… I think I always knew. I saw the way he looked at each of the parade of girlfriends he brought around and saw the way he looked at me and I was… afraid. Afraid to tell him that I wanted to try. Afraid of what the world would say, what our families would do. I was afraid it will drag me down and take Bucky down with me. I couldn't allow that to happen. So, we never even talked about it. I never told him that I knew, it would be too embarrassing. Then I met Peggy, and for a while I thought this was all just a childish outburst. That I've been imagining things, that I got confused… I couldn't be a fag, if I fell in love with a woman, right?"
She chuckled. "Well, if only it were that easy."
"Yeah," Steve said and pressed his thumbs to the corners of his eyes. "Now the world has changed. But we changed as well. Neither Bucky nor I are the same people we used to be. It might be too little, too late."
"Maybe it's not."
Steve smiled thinly. "Maybe. We will have to wait and see, I guess."
"Yeah," she agreed. They would have to wait and see.
Mommy was up in the air again and the atmosphere on board was even thicker than the day before. No one chattered, no one threw around stupid jokes, even Stark was uncharacteristically silent and thoughtful. She rechecked her gun for the seventh time, and Bruce did the same. Clint gave him his main weapon – he was staying behind to pilot the jet because someone had to – and Banner didn't protest as much as she expected him to, although she suspected he knew that if it came to a fight, it wouldn't be the gun that would save his life. All their lives, perhaps.
Loki pulled out his blade and turned it in his hands. James ran his metal fingers on the seam of his borrowed pants. Wilson readjusted the straps of his suit, while Rogers brushed some nonexistent speck of dust off his shield. It was weird to see him like this, with his feature weapon, but dressed in generic combat gear and not his Captain America suit.
The flight took an hour, as they were flying low and slow, yet it still felt too short to prepare properly. Her heart skipped a beat once she saw the outline of the Triskelion on the horizon, hammering in the fact that there was no turning back, now.
The aircraft shook as Stark switched to manual controls and she kneeled next to Loki. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked, then chuckled at his offended glare. "Yeah, I thought so."
"On positions, guys. We will only have around thirty seconds to clear the landing pad before it's full of folks shooting at us," Stark shouted out an unnecessary reminder. They already knew there was no way to convince the security system they were not an invading force.
They took their predetermined spots and Stark closed his visor, his hands still on the yoke.
Loki's fingers wriggled into her palm and laced with hers and she had to use all her willpower to not pull him closer and wrap her arms around him. "See you on the other side?" she said instead.
The plane touched down. Loki pulled up his face mask. [Certainly,] he showed, and his eyes crinkled in a nasty smile. Probably, it was harder to tell with even less of his face visible.
She put on her face mask as well. The hatch opened. Loki squared his shoulders and the blade gleamed in his hand.
"Go," Stark yelled over the sound of engines.
They went.
Tony waited for the rest to clear out before he turned to Clint.
"Make sure to initiate the self-destruction sequence if you need to abandon ship, we can't have them finding out where we've been hiding."
If Clint needed to scram, there was no way to keep Mummy airborne. They couldn't depend on the autopilot in such a busy airspace. Leaving the computer logs in the enemy's hands would surely lead to revealing their safe place and Tony couldn't wipe the drive when they were still flying.
"I know, Stark."
"I punched in the codes for you, just press enter…"
"I know. Don't worry about me and go."
Tony sighed and fired up his boosters, flying out just the moment the aircraft's hatch started to close.
The entry point – the evac shaft gate off the side of the launchpad - was a hundred yards ahead and even from afar Tony could say something wasn't right. Cap shouldn't be trying to pry the door open with his shield. The override should've worked.
"Stark!" came Romanoff's alarmed voice via the comm-link.
"I can see. Move away!"
Tony charged, turning up the propulsors. He collided with the gate at full force, shoulder-first, and only managed to bend the plates of his upper arm brace. The door didn't bulge; it was too well reinforced, and the lighter version of the suit didn't provide enough momentum to batter through.
"We need to find another way in," Romanoff judged. "The garage entry?"
"It's too far, they will wait for us before we even get there," Cap shot her down. "We can try the elevator shaft."
Tony disregarded both suggestions. The garage was indeed too far, it would take long minutes to get past the hatch to enter the shaft and they would still be out in the open for too long. He brought forth the rudimentary plan of the facility Barton and Romanoff recreated from memory and immediately found it lacking. If they were to have a chance, he would have to burn through the concrete pad and into the technical space below. He fired up his laser ray.
The gate rattled and started to open.
Tony activated his shoulder cannon. Natasha had her weapons aimed and ready to fire and Steve positioned himself between the door and Bucky, shield first. Loki didn't move from his position at the wall with the door, but his hand squeezed the hilt of the blade more tightly.
"Hi, guys. And gals." Agent Maria Hill stepped into the sun; her eyes narrowed against the brightness. "I thought you'd never come."
Romanoff and Wilson exchanged a look and Wilson shrugged.
"Come on," said Hill and urged them inside. "The fire alarm lockdown for this section is going to take only a couple of minutes to override."
"How did you know we're coming?" Cap asked as they walked inside.
Hill inclined her head at the ascending plane, then smashed the lock button. "The name was your idea, I assume?" she said, looking at Tony.
The door started to close, and Loki slipped inside before it trapped him out in the open. Hill's brow furrowed, her hand jumping to the holster at her hip. "What is he doing here?"
She didn't even bat an eye on a group of outlaws or at a guy with a metal arm with a big, red star on it, but she dared to have a problem with Loki.
"Exactly the same thing as the rest of us," Tony said and hoped he managed the discussion-ending tone.
That got an eyebrow raise out of Hill, but she decided to save it for later. "Okay, so what's the grand plan?" she asked, leading them down the corridor.
Tony regarded her for a moment, trying to judge if they were being played or if Hill stayed in as a ruse, waiting for her moment, and truly tried to help. There was nothing to go on from other than the gut feeling and – for the lack of a better alternative – Tony decided to trust it. "Romanoff and I are going down to the server room. The rest heads to the main control deck to find the location of the scepter."
"No need," Hill said. "I know exactly where it is."
"That's convenient," Romanoff snarled.
"They thought they caught every non-affiliated agent in their purge, but we were prepared. Fury made arrangements before he went dark."
Romanoff crooked her head. "What?"
"We can discuss the details later," Hill dismissed her question and stopped by the door at the end of the hall. "Shall we?"
Tony nodded and Hill pressed her employee card to the reader. The door opened.
They weren't as unexpected as Tony had hoped.
Loki ducked, hiding behind the cover of a wall as the gunshots flew past. If he could cast just one simple spell he could walk out and worry nothing about the bullets…
He readjusted his grip on the blade. It was a worthy weapon, on par with the finest Dwarven craftmanship, shaped not with the powers of magic and ages of experience, but with Midgardian science and mechanical precision instead. Different, but not worse. There was something comforting in that notion.
It still amounted to little when he was being shot at.
Stark fired his cannons, getting three – or perhaps four, it was hard to count – agents hiding on the rafters. Loki leaned out and threw the blade, getting one of the minions between the eyes, while the Captain's shield bounced off the took care of another. The opponents started to fall back, calling for support into their communicators and Loki used the opportunity to leap out and retrieve the blade.
He wiped it on his hip, then, with only a sliver of hesitation, sliced through the strap of the agent's rifle and grabbed the weapon.
An advantage is an advantage.
The gun was unfamiliar and felt clumsy in his unused hands, but as long as he knew which way to point at the enemies and where to push to release the bullets – which he did – it should be fine. He didn't exactly expect to be ordered to drop the arm, like when Stark was helping him out of the prison, but he was still wary of the reactions of others as he rose with the weapon in hand, more on an instinct than anything else.
No one seemed to care though. Banner gave him a small, nervous smile, and the rest didn't seem to notice.
The doctor was lingering behind – in his human form he wasn't much of a fighter – far enough to stay out of the crossfire, but close enough to be of service if his other self's presence was required. Loki sincerely hoped it wouldn't be. There was no way he'd survive an encounter with the Beast without his magic, and there was no telling how Hulk would act towards him now. Perhaps Banner would be able to aim the rage somewhere productive. Perhaps the Beast wouldn't be satiated without plummeting Loki into the ground again.
The man with the confusing number of names and titles – who Loki decided to call James, because that was the one he gave Loki during the official introduction – helped himself to a similar weapon off another fallen enemy.
Captain Rogers gestured them onwards and Loki followed.
"That's our exit," called Stark, pointing at the doorway down the hall. "You sure you'll be fine?"
The Captain barked out an affirmation and Stark split off the group. Natasha trailed a step after him, then, just before she crossed the threshold, she turned to Loki.
[Be safe,] her hands showed.
[You too,] he signed back, but she was already gone.
Agent Maria Hill led them through the winding corridors of the building and Loki did his best to squash the doubts he had about the woman. He knew nothing about her or her motivations, but other seemed to trust her enough to follow her into the enemy territory blindly and Loki was in no position to question that trust.
They allowed Loki in their midst, after all, and – in contrast – Maria Hill never tried to kill any of them.
They encountered no further resistance other than a single patrol – apparently lost in the commotion – that took seconds to deal with. Loki found himself wondering how Natasha and Tony were doing. Their quest was arguably the most important of all they were doing down here. Stopping the launch was an extemporary measure, meant to prevent Hydra from doing damage right now and it wouldn't draw them out fully. Finding out all their secrets and sharing them with the world was the only sure way to stop them permanently, Natasha said, and – without a different point of reference – Loki felt inclined to trust her. Of course, if it were Asgard, the public knowledge meant nothing, there were ways to silence the opposition, but with the sheer numbers of humans and the decisive power placed in the hands of the general population that could possibly be a more dependable solution.
Once upon a time, it would be Loki, carrying out that important, covert objective, hidden in the shadows while the others fought the foes. But now it had to be someone else, and Loki was glad it was Natasha and Tony. After all, Loki's life was in their hands for a long time now and he was still alive, despite all odds. In an ideal world, he would never have to leave Natasha's side, but there was no other way. Stark needed to go to the server room, as they still had no workaround for the security system and Natasha knew the way and could ensure the route was clear using her magic. Loki couldn't offer any significant input in any of those endeavors, and it would be them who would have to protect him, not the other way around. So he didn't argue when he was assigned to securing the scepter instead. At least there was a slight chance his experience might be useful there. Loki doubted it – he couldn't even use it anymore, perhaps that's why they even trusted him in its proximity – but the possibility was there and there was no point in denying it.
They crossed a footbridge between two buildings. The gate closed behind them and secured with an ominous beep. Then all three corridors that opened into the foyer swarmed with guards, at least thirty of them, each armed with a weapon trained at their small group.
"Drop your weapons and stand down. You're surrounded," one of the men said. Unlike the others, he wasn't wearing a face mask. His scruff, tan face was twisted in a satisfied smile. "That will be enough, agent Hill."
Loki's arm didn't waver, and James' metal fingers moved the switch at the side of the rifle. Loki checked the same place on the gun in his hands. It seemed to be a mode selection.
That's a good idea, he thought, setting it to "full auto". It sounded menacing and it might be exactly what he needed.
"Fuck you, Rumlow," Maria Hill barked, but lowered her weapon and split from the group. "Where's my team?"
Rumlow laughed.
"We had a deal, I bring you the Avengers, you let my people go!"
Rumlow's eyes slid over the group – Rogers standing in the front with his shield raised, Sam at his side, Loki and James with their weapons in hands two steps back and Banner hiding behind their backs. His eyebrows rode up when his gaze landed on Loki, then it focused on James.
"You brought our lost assets back, I give you that," he said, his lips curling away from his teeth in a snarl. "But this is not what we agreed upon. Where's Stark?"
"He isn't here," Rogers said, "Step aside and let us pass."
Rumlow laughed again. "I don't think so." He turned to James. "Your master was missing his obedient dog. He will be overjoyed you came crawling back. Now, put down your weapons…"
James let out a low grumble and his fingers curled around the hilt of the gun. Then the windows shattered, and a series of machine gunfire got Rumlow and the man right next to him across the chests, broke a series of glass panes on the other side of the foyer and ripped holes through the floor.
"I got tired of the stupid talk," Barton's winded words scratched in his ear, interlaced with the engine whine.
Then all hell broke loose.
Loki dove behind a planter.
There was a roar and Loki froze in place and held his breath. The shooting subsided and turned to frantic screaming. The Beast trudged past Loki's hiding spot and went at the agents, bellowing in anger.
Loki peeked from behind the cover, then got up. None of Rumlow's men paid him any attention now, too preoccupied with running from the Hulk and avoiding the Captain's shield and James's bullets.
Rumlow was on the ground, bleeding, but still alive. He had his sidearm up now, aimed at Sam, who was fighting two agents, unaware. Loki pulled the trigger. The series of bullets hit the floor a few steps away from the man's head. He readjusted the aim but didn't get to fire again before Hulk's massive foot stepped on Rumlow's head, squashing the skull like an overripe grape.
Damn.
James' bullet got one of the agents Sam was fighting and Sam finished off the other one, bashing his face into the floor repeatedly until the man stopped struggling.
"That's the last of 'em," he breathed, getting up and looking around. The rest of the foes have either fled or were lying dead or incapacitated on the ground. "Good job, guys."
"Hulk smashed," the Beast grunted, and Loki suppressed a shudder. He moved, carefully, to the side, to put as much distance between himself and the rage monster. Hulk turned, huffed, and took one heavy, ground-shaking step towards Loki. Loki dropped the gun – he just witnessed how useless those were against the Beast anyway – and raised his hands in a sign of surrender.
"Hey, big boy," Sam called, "he is with us."
"Puny god Banner friend now," the Beast decided and bared its teeth in what took Loki a moment to realize was an attempt at a smile. "Hulk not smash."
Loki reminded himself to breathe again, then bowed his head in thanks. He wasn't sure if it was going to help any, but it couldn't hurt. Unlike getting smashed.
Sam laughed, then came over, picked the abandoned weapon up, placed it back in Loki's shaky hands, then clapped his shoulder.
"They will regroup and come back for more," Rogers remarked and reattached his shield to the holder on his arm. "We must be ready."
"Any idea where to go now?" Sam asked.
There was a shuffle and Maria Hill emerged from behind an overturned table. James raised his weapon again.
She put her arms up. "I mean you no harm," she said.
"Mhm, we just saw," Sam murmured, picked up a pistol from one of the fallen agents' holster and aimed it at her.
"Rumlow is keeping people from the Coulson's team somewhere in the facility, under the gun. He threatened to kill them if I didn't cooperate."
"What the hell is she talking about?" came via the comm-link, from Clint. Yes, Loki would like to know too, very much.
"Explain," Captain Rogers prompted. "In as few words as possible."
"Coulson's not dead. His new team was working on Fury's orders since last year. They went into hiding when Nick was taken out of the picture. After you two tried and failed, he sent his people in to stop the launch, but they failed and got captured."
That was…
"Bullshit!" Clint exclaimed. "There's no way Phil wouldn't try to contact me all those months."
"You could've said something instead of leading us into a trap," Sam pointed out.
"They didn't expect the Hulk," she said, "and I was monitored." She tapped her ear. There was no communicator there anymore. "Besides, what's done is done. I'm going to try to track our people down, if they are still alive. You have to stop the launch before it's too late."
"And how do you propose we do that?" Rogers asked.
"Like you intended. Get the scepter. It's on the alpha carrier, the two others are linked to it. If you manage to take it out, they won't be able to do much damage, even if they..." The rest of her words drowned in an ominous sound of grinding metal and the entire building shook.
Clint swore, and the link reactivated right after his words sounded, now with Stark's voice. "They are launching right now! Hurry up, guys!"
They achieved something.
"Are you done with the database?" the Captain asked.
"No, we need more time." Tony's voice was wheezy and anxious. "You have to stop it, now!"
"We're on it!"
Sam walked to the window. "At least we know where we have to go," he said, looking down, where the waters of the river were parting, revealing the hidden hangar underneath the surface. "We need a quicker way down than the elevator though."
Sam's wings unfolded. Loki didn't yet get a chance of seeing the suit in action and he wasn't sure what to expect. Whatever it was, it wasn't this. The wings spanned a good dozen steps, every metal feather moving independently, like a living thing. It was mesmerizing to look at.
Sam smirked and leaped through the smashed window, then soared down.
"You guys need a lift?" Clint's voice asked and the Quinjet appeared, shedding the invisibility cloaking, a couple of dozen paces away, between the two buildings. Barton turned it around and flew closer, the bay door slowly opening. "Hop in!"
Hulk grunted and jumped out, the force of the take-off shattering the tiles under his feet. He missed the plane by a significant margin, crashed onto the face of the opposite wing of the building and slid down, his clawed hand ripping through the concrete slabs creating the façade, then crashed through the glass awning and into the plaza below, creating a crater where he landed.
"Anyone else?" Clint prompted. James slung his weapon over his shoulders and exchanged glances with Rogers, then the two took back a few steps to get a run-up.
Loki took a quick look down, sighed, and moved to a position as well. James leapt out first and landed inside the hold with a roll. The aircraft shook and took a dip to compensate for the force of impact but returned to the position just in time for Rogers to make it in too.
The gun clattered to the ground and Loki started running. He was at the window already when he saw it. A missile, coming up from the ground. It was too late to stop, the momentum of the sprint would throw him off the edge anyway. He jumped; the same moment Clint swerved to avoid getting hit. The missile flew past and hit the skywalk. There was no magic to slow him down and Loki only managed to turn, so he slammed into the hull of the aircraft with his shoulder, not his face. His fingernails clawed for purchase and he slid down. The shockwave from the explosion hit him, the jet shook, and Loki's fingers lost the rest of the hold and he fell.
A strong grip clasped on his wrist. He looked up. Rogers was hanging out from the bay door, his other hand on the railing. He hauled Loki up, and Loki tumbled inside, landing on all fours, panting heavily.
[Thank you,] he showed, scrambling to his feet.
"Watch out, here goes another one!" Clint warned, and the metal floor under Loki's feet jolted, throwing him off-balance. He grunted, as the edge of the seat prodded his ribs, the goddamned Odin's spell burning in his throat. "We're hit!"
One of the engines exploded. The plane rocked and went into a downward spiral. The air in the cabin filled with acrid smoke.
"We'll have to jump!" Clint yelled, springing from his seat. He unceremoniously grabbed Loki's arm and pulled him up. "Now!"
They did. There was just a heartbeat of time to make the jump before the jet spun away and crashed into the deck of one of the Helicarriers. Loki landed, rolled, and rammed into a pile of crates. He felt the bone in his upper arm snap. Damn, that was going to hurt, once his brain registered it, out of the battle haze.
Clint got up, rubbing his hip. His landing wasn't the luckiest one either. Then the bullets started flying again and he ducked, right next to Loki.
"This is fun, isn't it?" he jeered, pulled out his pistol and shot in the general direction of the enemies. Loki retrieved his blade. "Go. I'll cover you."
Loki went, Clint shots keeping the closest agents distracted. The blade sliced through the throat effortlessly, before the man even turned. The second did turn, but not quickly enough and the flung dagger got him in the eye, shattering the protective glasses. Loki pulled it free and relieved the man of his weapon. It was a different one, with a shorter barrel and a bulkier body, but the operating principle seemed similar.
The Hulk landed on the deck and wasted no time before he started tearing through the enemies. Loki got two and a half more – James' bullet finished the man off while Loki was halfway through stabbing him in the gut – before they reached the superstructure.
[Is this the right one?] he asked.
"Yeah, that's a good question," Clint admitted. "Sam, can you see any markings from above?"
Sam avoided a blast from one of the starboard cannons and circled around, before responding. "No. Nothing visible." The Hulk bellowed, jumped onto the support structure, ripped the cannon off its mounting plate and threw it at the men in the machine gun's nest.
The huge actuators moving the gates above their heads ground to a halt. The way was open now. The deck under their feet shook and shifted as the engines powered up.
[We must split.]
Rogers nodded curtly. "You and Barton take this one. Sam and Buck – the one on the left. I'll take the right one."
"All right!" Sam responded. "Hold on to your pants, Barnes!" He grabbed James by his waist and hauled him up. Cap ran to the edge and jumped, just as the carrier started to rise off the ground. He landed shield-first, dodged a bullet, and took three minions with one throw. "I'm good," he reported.
"Come on," Clint urged and called the elevator. "Any idea where they keep it?"
Loki shook his head. [Ask Stark. He might know.]
Clint did.
"Try the engine room first," came Tony's voice. "That what I would do. No need to route the power to the relays that way."
"Okay. How's it going on your front?" The elevator arrived and they stepped in. Clint smacked the technical level button, the metal gate fell, and the lift moved down. Loki curled his fingers into claws and took in a deep breath.
"We locked ourselves in the server room. They tried cutting the power, but I rerouted it to my reactor beforehand. Now they are just trying to get in." There was some banging and then a muffled sound of an explosion in the background. "It's gonna take a while, but so will the upload. They severed the connection and I have to use my satellites to transfer it."
"How long?"
"At least another half an hour."
Clint groaned.
"There's one more thing. Jay reports there were two squadrons of fighter jets deployed from the base up the Potomac River, some infantry troops too. The jets will be here in ten minutes. We can't tell if they are friendly or not."
There was a Hulk roar from above and a faint sound of an explosion. The lights blinked off and the elevator came to a jarring stop. A red emergency light came on above.
"We will deal with that once it comes to that," Barton said. "Keep me posted if anything changes."
Stark tuned off with an affirmation. Clint inclined his head at the grate. "Together?"
Loki grabbed onto the metal bars and Barton did so. "On three." Barton counted and they yanked. Loki felt the bones in his broken arm shift but managed to stifle the cry this time. The grate whined and ground up, just a foot off the floor. Loki jammed his weapon under the bottom edge to keep it from falling back down. Clint slipped through the opening and Loki did the same, then he pulled the gun free.
The corridor was barely lit, with only a couple of emergency lights on. Whatever the Hulk did, it did quite some damage. The engines were still running though, confirming the suspicion there was a separate source of power for them.
Loki looked around. The Helicarrier shared a similar floorplan to the one Loki previously had the questionable pleasure visiting. [This is not the right floor,] he pointed out.
"No. This is the personnel quarters. We need to go two levels down. The staircase should be that way," Barton said with a wave of his hand.
Loki nodded an acknowledgment.
Just as they turned a corner there was a shuffle of heavy footsteps ahead. Clint fell to a crouch behind a support pillar, Loki did the same on the other side of the corridor.
"Who's there?" a voice asked, accompanied by a sound of a safety lever being released. "Show yourself!"
Loki put up three fingers.
[Wait,] Clint showed. [Keep it silent. They don't know we're here.]
[Okay.]
Clint retrieved one of his throwing blades and Loki pulled out the dagger. The footsteps grew closer.
[Now.]
Clint tossed the blade and Loki lunged, slicing through one guard's throat, and throwing the dagger at another. The first victim fell without making a sound. The other stumbled and cried out, the blade penetrating the protective clothing on his shoulder. Clint's knife got him through the larynx before the cry turned into a shout.
[You still regret not having your bow and arrows?] Loki asked.
"Shut up," Clint muttered, then searched the guards, picking up the spare ammo clips. He tossed one to Loki and pocketed the other two.
No more enemies bothered them till they reached the engine room. Loki stepped inside and took in his surroundings, more of a habit than of necessity, because it was abundantly obvious they were in the right place. The blue glow the active scepter gave off stood in stark contrast to the red illumination of the emergency lights.
It was mounted on a plinth in the middle of the room, with protective glass around. Thick cables ran from the foot of the pedestal to the machinery by the walls, snaking all over the floor.
Loki circled the platform, looking for an opening. There seemed to be none, but there was a control panel, with a keyboard and a small display showing status. Loki ran his fingers over the screen then tried a few keys, but each attempt resulted in a low buzz and an "access locked" error. Clint stood by his side and narrowed his eyes at the panel, then knocked his knuckles on the see-through partition, resulting in a dull sound and another error.
[Ask Stark,] Loki suggested. It was quicker that way.
Clint did, relaying the sight before their eyes.
"Hmm," Tony's voice hummed in the comm-link. "Can you see any auxiliary access ports?"
"No, nothing. There's something that looks like a card reader on the side…"
Stark hummed again. "Do you have your phone with you?"
"No," Clint answered. Loki reached into his pocket. "Loki does though."
"Great. Unlock it and press it to the reader."
Loki did.
"Why did I make the OS so secure?" Tony grunted. There were some more bangs in the background and a suppressed curse from Natasha. Loki raised his hand to ask what was happening. "Don't worry about that. They're trying the vents now, but we left a small surprise for them there."
The phone vibrated and emitted a jingle of a new notification. "I'm in," Tony said. "There are credentials stored on the server, let's see if any of it works…"
There was another error.
"Nope," Clint reported.
Stark cursed. "Okay, let's try this one then."
The panel blinked green and unlocked.
"It worked!"
"You're welcome." There was an explosion and some muffled screaming. "Yep, the surprise worked as well," Stark boasted, then snarled a curse. "I have to go."
The line went silent, and Loki gritted his teeth. They were going to be fine.
He scrolled through the panel, until he found the release option. The glass partition rode up and a pungent smell of ozone filled the air. He reached to take the scepter out, then hesitated, and his eyes dashed to Clint. He took a step away and urged Barton on.
Barton didn't move. "I'm not touching it if I don't have to. Just take it," he sighed, "and let's get our asses out of here."
Loki nodded and his fingers wrapped around the handle. The sweet song of power that was so overwhelming before was no longer there. The metal in his mouth shifted and pushed his tongue down. He rarely hated the gag more than now and he hated it very much most of the time. He didn't even want to think how bad it would be without Stark's scrambler.
There were footsteps and a sound of safety being removed off a weapon. A man in a suit stepped into the circle of light, his pistol up and aimed at Loki.
Loki gasped in recognition of the man's face.
"Sitwell," Clint snarled and aimed his own weapon at the man. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to reason with you. We are at a five thousand feet altitude, over a busy city, and your monster destroyed the backup power array. If you take the scepter, we are going to crash, killing not only everyone on board, but also causing significant casualties among the civilians. You're sure you want to do that again?"
Loki's fingers shifted on the hilt.
"It was a good try," Sitwell said with a sly smile. "Step away from the scepter and I'll personally make sure the authorities are informed of your cooperation."
"He's bluffing," Stark's voice scratched in his ear.
Loki yanked, pulling the scepter from its holder.
Sitwell growled and fired. Loki sidestepped, but not quickly enough, still distracted with the spell, and the bullet grazed his arm, the one holding the scepter. His other arm was broken though and had started to go numb already, so he bit down on the metal and kept his grip steady. Clint fired back.
The aircraft shook, the lights blinked off and on, and the engines started winding down.
Sitwell stumbled as well but managed to remain standing. "You idiots!" he barked and fired again. "You've just killed us all!"
Loki leapt. Sitwell tried avoiding the attack and almost made it before the hilt of the scepter got him across the throat. Loki pushed on it, pinning the man to the wall. Ignoring the tendrils of pain shooting up his nerves, he replaced the weapon with his left hand and squeezed it around the man's neck, then pushed the tip of the scepter to his chest.
Sitwell laughed. "We both know you can't use it." The strangled voice vibrated under Loki's fingertips. "You've already lost."
Loki couldn't access the power, but it was still a foot-long blade.
The words turned into a choked cry as Loki pushed on the scepter, piercing Sitwell's chest. The man struggled, weakly, for a couple of seconds, hot blood running down his torso and to the floor before he stilled.
Loki numbly pulled the scepter free and removed his hand. Sitwell's lifeless body fell to the ground. It wasn't a satisfying sight, not at all. If anything, Loki was just relieved the man was gone.
The Helicarrier shook one last time and stabilized.
"Ugh. Good riddance," Clint said with a nasty smile, coming over and nudging the corpse with the tip of his boot. "I always hated this piece of shit."
Loki might now be immune to the Mind Stone's influence, but Barton wasn't. Loki didn't point it out. It would change nothing.
"Guys?" came Stark's voice, "You have maybe twenty minutes to land, before the engines run out of the stored energy."
Loki put the scepter down, propping it against the wall. [Have you ever operated one of those before?] he asked.
"Nope. But how hard could it be?" Clint responded with a scoff.