Luke tried to fly the moment he knew he could control the wind. It took him a few days to master, but he sees it a lot like riding a bike: once you know how, you can't forget it. It's exhilarating, to feel the breeze in his hair, knowing that he's utterly alone in the sky, that he won't crash back down to earth.

That I can't hurt anyone.

As he falls through the night air, however, someone lashes onto him. No, not someone. Something. For the briefest moment, he loses control, goes flipping around in the air, but he regains his bearings just long enough to realize that his entire midsection is soaking wet.

"I admit!" Surge screams over the rushing wind, "I didn't think this through!" The eldest child of the Kamashiro family clings to Luke, a rope of water connecting Surge's arms to his waist.

Luke has options. He can sever the rope with a slice of wind, let Ethan fall to his death, or play the long game.

And Luke's not stupid. "Where's the girl?"

"She's…" He sees the realization dawn in Ethan's eyes moments before Kara herself comes plummeting down next to them. "Help her!"

Despite the growing headache pulsing behind his temple, Luke sticks to his strategy.

They jumped after me to get me back, knowing I could let them die.

I need to fight this.

With a wave of his hand, he pulls the air currents around Kara taut, keeping her aloft next to them. Just in time, too, because in a few moments, they touch down gently.

As soon as his foot hits the ground, Luke throws a bubble of air around their heads, only releasing it once he knows the siblings are unconscious.

He has a job to do, after all.

The first thought I have when I wake up is Luke saved us just to kill us.

The second is I'm pretty sure ghosts don't get headaches. Nor that the afterlife looks anything like the helicarrier's medbay. "You'll be glad to know I didn't tell your parents." Huh. I expected Captain America to be at least a little bit better at comforting people. When I glance over to where he sits on an uncomfortable stool, he nods. "Ethan's with the others, and we've got Luke and Loki in custody."

Relief crashes down on me like that perfect wave from my last surf session.

I didn't fail.

Rogers leans forward, and I lean back. (If he's gonna scold me, he might as well have told my parents what my brother and I did.) "That was a huge risk you took out there."

"We couldn't lose him again."

"And if we lose either of you…" He chuckles, but it sounds more like a scoff this time around, "I don't know if you'd approve of how we'd, uh, handle Luke after that."

There's a lot Rogers isn't saying, mostly that they'd have no choice but to kill him. So by jumping out of the quinjet after Luke, risking our lives to save his, we could've been dooming him, too. "Sorry." I sound like the pouty teenager I am. "Won't happen again."

Rogers heaves an immense sigh, stands up. "They're gonna start Loki's interrogation in a few." I'm a little afraid of passing out right in front of Rogers, but thankfully, swinging my legs over the side of the bench doesn't result in that embarrassment.

"Mind if I tag along?"

"Not at all." The medbay is pretty large, all things considered, and we pass a few more empty beds before we actually get to the door. "So."

"So?"

"I don't think you'd jump out of a plane without a parachute for no good reason."

Oh, dear lord above. I expected to have this talk sometime during this mission, just not with Captain America. "Luke's my best friend. I'm sure those still existed before you went into the ice."

If he's bothered by my light banter, he doesn't show it. Instead, we keep walking, and I take note from the familiar signs that we're heading back to the bridge. "I had a best friend." Even though it's clear why he'd be speaking in the past tense, the pang of guilt that hits my chest is fresh. "I'd have done what you did for him. But this time, for you, the risk is too high. We can't lose you or your brother."

We walk the last corner, but before I can walk into the bridge, I turn and face Rogers. "I get what you're saying, but what I'm saying is that Luke was worth the risk."

Regardless of the fact that my own best friend was trying to kill me, regardless of the fact I may never get him back in the end, he's worth the risk.

Steve Rogers smiles, then leads the way into the bridge.

When I walk over to the conference room table- the same one where all of this started- only Doctor Banner offers me a sympathetic glance. Agent Romanoff and Ethan sit across from each other, neither speaking. Rogers slides into the empty seat at the head of the table, and I sit to my brother's right. Thor, who according to Rogers is Loki's brother and the Asgardian god of thunder, nods to me. "Just in time," Agent Romanoff murmurs, and I peer at the screen in front of Ethan.

"A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man." Damn. The list of reasons why I want to kill Loki just keeps growing by the minute, doesn't it? "How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"Motherfucker created a lost creature," Ethan mutters. "Might as well watch how he speaks, no?"

He means Luke. Saying the words must've hurt him just as much as it hurt me to hear them. On the screen, Director Fury takes a step forward. "How desperate am I?" Oh shit. "You threaten my world with war, brainwash an innocent kid. You steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You might not be glad that you did."

All Loki does is smile.

I will kill him I will kill him I will kill him I will kill him

"It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power- unlimited power- and for what? A warm light for all mankind to share?" Loki turns away from the camera, but something tells me he's still having the absolute time of his life. "And then to be reminded of what real power is."

This time, Director Fury's the one that grins. "Well, let me know if real power wants a magazine or something."

Rogers glances up at us, sighs. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?" No one looks the littlest bit amused by Banner's comment. Besides him, at least.

"Loki's gonna drag this out, especially with someone like Luke on his team. So, Thor, what's his play?" The mentor from out in the hallway, the fatherly figure that waited for me to wake up, is gone. Here's Captain America now, and he's not fucking around.

Thor crosses his gigantic arms. (And here's someone who I'm glad is on our side.) "He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any world known." Aliens. Wonderful. "He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army, from outer space?"

"This isn't what I wanted when I said I wish I could meet an alien," Ethan mutters. I kick him under the table.

"He's building another portal," Doctor Banner breezes past my brother's statement, "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Despite not knowing who this Selvig guy is, I see where this conversation is going, and I don't like it.

Thor frowns, which kind of scares me a little. I glance out the bridge windows, expecting there to be a flash of lightning. "Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has them under some kind of spell," Agent Romanoff adds in, "Along with the kid, and another one of ours." Agent Barton. I wonder what he's like when he's not under mind control.

I'm not too sure how to jump into the conversation, but if the topic is going to lead here, I might as well bite the bullet. When I raise my hand, everyone glances at me. Ethan's neck turns red. "You don't have to…"

"Too late," I bite back, lowering my hand. "Loki needed Doctor Selvig to build the portal, and Agent Barton for information. Why's he need a kid with superpowers?"

I'm only able to speak about Luke so calmly because of all the times I've spoken about him to others. We were a package deal, after all, almost like three siblings instead of two siblings and their best friend.

Thor shrugs. "My brother's reasoning escapes me. I can only assume that Sir Mabry would become his spokesperson, his assurance to the human race that as long as they capitulate…"

They'd be given powers. Because I'm damn near certain Luke wasn't a superhero two years ago.

Well, not like I would know, considering he ran.

Ethan stands, pushes his chair back. "Sorry." His smile is the one he wears when he lies. "Fill me in on the juicy details later." With that, he's dissolved into the crowd of SHIELD employees, and I sigh, heart heavy.

"Kara," Rogers murmurs, "You don't have to be here if you don't want to be."

Thank god. I was just about to leave. "Y-yeah." I push my chair in, ignoring the looks of pity I'm getting. "I'm starving. Gonna see if I can find something to eat."

On my way out, I brush past Agent Coulson and Tony Stark. Coulson gives me a worried look. I return it with a smile.