Avengers 1 part 2
I own only my original characters, nothing else.
Several hours passed and Max was now sitting at the table in the control room with Natasha.
"If it's not too much trouble," Phil said, asking Steve to sign his trading cards.
"Oh no, it's... fine," Steve said awkwardly.
"Hey, Nat," Max said and gestured towards the two and she grinned in amusement like he was. "Still weird just how much of a geek he is."
"Oh, this is nothing," she commented and they snickered a little as another agent, Jasper Sitwell, got a hit on Loki.
"We got a hit!!," he said and Max sped over to him and saw the footage of Loki. "69% match. Wait... cross-match, 79%."
"That's him alright. I'd recognize him anywhere."
"Location?," Coulson asked.
"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Königstraße. He's not exactly hiding."
"Captain," Fury said, getting Steve's attention. "You're up."
He nodded and headed towards the armory and then the landing bay.
"This is something I gotta see," Max said and sped towards the landing bay before anyone could say anything.
He ran over next to Nat, who stood next to a quinjet. Then he saw a man in a red, white and blue suit, carrying a shield.
"That's awesome."
"Thanks," Steve said. "You coming with us?"
"Yup. There might be a chance that Thor will show up. He's like a brother, so he'll listen to me should things escalate."
They nodded and flew off of the helicarrier.
Germany
By the time they arrived, Loki had caused a mass panic and he was now in a green and golden outfit with a new scepter with a mysterious blue gem on it.
"Kneel before me," Loki ordered the crowd of frightened people as he created illusions of himself to surround them. "I said, KNEEL!"
Scared out of their minds, they did as he said and began to walk around them with a smirk on his face.
"Is not this simpler?," he asked, rhetorically. "Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."
Then an old man arose in defiance of the would be king.
"Not to men like you," he said.
"Ha... there are no men like me."
"There are always men like you."
Loki became annoyed and pointed his scepter at him.
"Look to your elder people. Let him be an example."
He fired but then a shield deflected it back at him, saving the old man. The blast pushed him away and brought him to his knees. The shield lowered and revealed Captain America.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else... we ended up disagreeing," he said to Loki.
"The soldier," Loki said chuckling. "...The man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time."
The quinjet flew into view and it readied it's guns.
"Loki. You've nowhere to run. Drop the weapon and get down on your knees," Black Widow said but he replied by shooting at them.
Steve rolled over to him and punched him in the face, barely fazing him but it got his attention and they began to throw punches at each other.
"Jeez, he's all over the place," Nat said from the cockpit and Max watched from behind her.
Loki then smacked him a distance and pinned him down on his knees.
"Kneel," he ordered but Captain America grabbed the scepter and pushed off, getting up.
"Not today!!," he exclaimed and kicked in the face.
"Hey, Agent Romanoff. You miss me?," a familiar voice said over the coms and Loki was then blasted to the ground as Iron Man arrived and readied every weapon he had. "Make a move, reindeer games."
Loki then saw that he was outmatched and slowly his armor faded and he raised his hands up in surrender and Tony put his weapons away.
"Good move."
"...Mr. Stark," Steve said, walking up to him.
"Captain."
They quickly got him cuffed and got him into the quinjet. Loki then stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Max standing in front of him and he grinned evilly.
"I see that you remember me," Max said and the god of mischief said nothing to this as he sat down and the quinjet flew off. "Hey, Dad."
"Hey, buddy. How do you know him exactly?"
"Long story that I'll tell you about later."
Some time passed and Fury contacted them.
"Has he said anything?," he asked.
"Not a word," Nat answered.
"Just get him here. We're running out of time."
"...You know, Clint was probably there," Max said after a moment.
"...Yeah, he probably was."
"You okay?"
"...Not really. But thanks for asking."
He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and walked back to Steve and his dad.
"I don't like this," Steve said.
"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?," Tony asked.
"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."
"Trust me, I know," Max agreed.
"Well, you're pretty spry, Cap. For an older fellow. What's your thing, pilates?"
"...What?"
"It's similar to calisthenics."
"Yeah, you might've missed some things, you know? Doing time as a Capsicle."
"...Fury didn't tell me he was bringing you or your son in," Steve stated.
"Yeah, there's a lot of things that Fury doesn't tell you," Iron Man said then thunder and lightning came out of nowhere.
"What's going on out there?," Max said and returned to Natasha. "What's wrong?"
"Not sure," she said and Steve then saw the troubled look on Loki's face.
"What's wrong? Scared of a little lightning?"
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," he answered and Captain America and Iron Man just looked at each other.
There was then a thud from the roof and Tony opened the door to get out and see what was going on. Then a man with long blonde hair and in viking like armor and had a hammer in hand. He knocked Tony away and grabbed Loki before flying.
"Now there's that guy."
"Another Asgardian?!!," Max and Nat yelled.
"Isn't that guy a friendly?!," Steve asked over the noise of the door being open.
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract is lost," Iron Man said as he was about to fly out.
"Wait, Dad, stop!!," Max yelled, coming into view. "It's Thor!! He won't do anything!! We need to make a plan, not attack!!"
"I have a plan: Attack."
Saying nothing else, Iron Man flew out to engage Thor and almost immediately, Captain America began to get a parachute on.
"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha suggested.
"I don't see how I can."
"These guys come from legends. They're basically gods!!"
"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that," Captain America said as he jumped out of the quinjet.
Thor then landed on a cliff, making Loki crash into it, to which he just chuckled despite being in pain.
"Where is the Tesseract?," Thor demanded, clearly pissed off.
"Oh, I've missed you too," Loki said, ignoring the question.
"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?!"
"Really? You should thank me!! With the Bifrost gone, how much dark magic did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here? Your precious Earth?"
He slowly got up as Thor dropped his hammer and stepped closer to him.
"I thought you dead," he said, and Loki lost his smirk.
"Did you mourn?"
"...We all did. Our father-."
"Your father," Loki corrected and began to walk away from him a little. "He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"
"We were raised together, we played together, we fought together!! Do you remember none of that?!!"
"I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you casting me into an abyss. I was and should be king!!"
"So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights? No... the Earth is under my protection."
"Hahaha... and you are doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other while you idly fret. I mean to rule them. Why should I not?"
"You think yourself above them?," Thor asked and Loki just looked at him strangely.
"...Well, yes," he answered as if the answer was obvious.
"Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. The throne would suit you ill."
Loki just pushed him out of the way and walked over to the edge of the cliff.
"I've seen worlds you've never known about!! I have grown, Odinson, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it-."
"Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be-king?!"
"I am a king!!!," Loki argued and Thor grabbed hold of him.
"Not here!!!," he yelled. "You give up the Tesseract!! You give up this poisonous dream!! ...You come home."
"...I don't have it."
Thor let's go of him and summons Mjolnir and holds it ready.
"You need the Cube to bring me home but I've sent it off I know not where."
"You listen well brother-," Thor began to say but then Iron Man grabbed him and flew off with him, leaving Loki just standing there.
"...I'm listening," he joked.
Thor is thrown into some trees at the ground level and Tony lands and lifts up his faceplate.
"Do not touch me again."
"Then don't take my stuff," Tony countered.
"You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Uh... Shakespeare in the park? Doth mother know you wear-th her drapes?"
"This is beyond you, Sir Stark," Thor said and Tony's eyes widened a little.
"Wait, how do you know my name?"
"I know your son, Max. He spoke of you. However, that changes nothing. Loki will be coming with me and face Asgardian justice."
"He gives up the Cube, he's all yours. Until then-," Tony said and the faceplate drops. "-Stay out of the way. Tourist."
Thor then gets annoyed and throws Mjolnir, hitting Iron Man square in the chest and sent him flying before landing on his back. This obviously annoyed Tony to no end.
"...Okay!"
Loki smirks from the cliff top he was left at as Thor summons Mjolnir back and then swings it in circles. Iron Man gets back up to his feet and fires a repulsor blast at Thor. He then flew at him, and kicked him through a tree.
In retaliation, Thor got up and summoned a bolt of lightning as Loki watches in the distance as Max does from the quinjet as Thor sent the bolt at Iron Man. It did not electrocute him as the god of thunder thought it would, instead it almost seemed like the reactor was absorbing the energy.
'Power at four hundred percent capacity,' JARVIS said in the suit.
"...How bout that?," Iron Man said and fired a massive repulsor blast at him.
They then continued to fight in the air, smashing through the trees around them and even scraping against a cliffside.
The two heroes then crashed back to the ground and toppled even more trees in the process. They quickly got back up and Thor throws a left hook at Iron Man, who attempts to throw a punch back. Thor grabbed his arm however and then the other as he tried to throw a left hook of his own. Thor began to crush Tony's right gauntlet, making him groan in pain and tried to think fast. He lifted his hand up and blasted Thor in the face and he let go of him. The blast did nothing to Thor and so he headbutted him. Thor simply retutnedbthe gesture and knocked Iron Man away a distance, but he simply launches himself back at him into a broken tree.
Thor quickly gets up as they get into a fist fight, and then he puts Tony on his back and summons his hammer. Tony quickly flies off, which makes the hammer-wielding man fall. As he gets back up, Iron Man swooped in and knocked him back down. They are about to fight again until Captain America's shield hits them both in the chest to get their attention.
"HEY!!!," he yelled from atop of a destroyed tree and he caught his shield. "That's enough!!"
He jumps down of the tree and approaches Thor and Iron Man.
"Now I don't know what you plan on doing here-."
"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!!," Thor exclaimed.
"Then prove it. Put that hammer down."
"Uh, yeah! No! Bad call, he loves his hammer-," Iron Man tries to say but Thor swung his hammer back, sending Iron Man behind him.
"You want me to put hammer down?!!!"
Thor leaps, swinging Mjolnir, Cap raises the shield over his head. When the two connect, a massive energy explosion occurred and all three were thrown backwards.
"I think they need a time out," Max said to Nat on the quinjet. "Can you get me down there? I'll talk to Thor."
"Sure," she said and began to fly the craft down to the three heroes.
As this happened, the three men slowly got themselves back up and faced each other.
"...Are we done here?," Steve asked and Thor looked around.
"Yeah, what's next? You all gonna make up and braid each other's hair?," a voice joked and Thor turned to see his old friend.
"Max!! My brother!!," he exclaimed and hugged him tightly.
"Good to see you again, Thor. We'll talk later as we have to deal with this right now. How about if you help us find the Tesseract, make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, we'll give it and Loki to you? Deal?"
"Of course. What say we just get out here then?"
They all nodded at this and they grabbed Loki and got on the quinjet.
Helicarrier
It was dead silent on the carrier as Loki was escorted to his cell. Everyone just watched as he passed by or on security footage. Soon enough, he's placed into a cylindrical shaped cell and Fury appeared on the platform surrounding it.
"In case it's unclear, you try to escape- you so much as scratch that glass-," he said over the footage as the others watch from the conference room and he pushed a button and the floor beneath the cell drops away and the wind begins to scream. "Thirty thousand feet, straight down, in a steel trap!! You get how that works?!!"
He presses another and it closes and the wind stops screaming as Fury gestures towards the cell then the console.
"Ant... boot."
"Hahahaha... it's an impressive cage," Loki stated. "Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you."
"Oh I've heard," he said and looks at the camera as everyone watches him. "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man... How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"
"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."
"Ooh... it burns you doesn't it? 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? And then to be reminded what real power is."
This just made Fury smirk and he began to leave.
"Well, let me know if real power wants a magazine or something."
With that, the video feed where Steve sat, still in his suit but no cowl, went off.
"He really grows on you doesn't he?," Bruce commented and Max just shrugs at this.
"Loki's gonna drag this out," Cap said. "So Thor, what's his play?"
"He has an army called the Chitauri?," he answered. "They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead the against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
"An army, from outer space?"
"So, he's building another portal," Max concluded. "That's got to be why he needs Selvig?"
"Selvig?"
"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce explained.
"He's a friend."
"Loki has them under some kind of spell- along with one of ours," Natasha said.
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can small crazy on him."
"Have care how you speak," Thor warned. "Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."
"He killed eighty people in two days," Nat pointed out.
"He's adopted."
"Anyway, it must be about the mechanics that they pulled off that heist," Max said, changing the subject. "Iridium. What do they need the iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony said as he walked in with Coulson and he turned back and said something quietly to him. "I'm saying, take a weekend. I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive."
Phil just nods and walks away from him as Tony looked back at the others.
"Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD," he said and looked to Thor. "No hard feelings, Point Break, you got a mean swing."
Thor just looked at him weirdly and then to Max for an explanation, only to receive a shrug.
Tony walked over to the control console and began to fiddle with the controls and annoy the agents at work.
"Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants. Ah, raise the mizzen mast, ship the topsails."
The personnel just look at him strangely and then he pointed to his right.
"That man is playing Galaga!! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did," he exclaimed and then covered his right eye. "How does Fury even see these?"
"He turns," she answered the same way she had spoken to Max.
"Sounds exhausting," he responds and then placed something on the underside of a desk. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton ought get his hands on pretty easily."
"Only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density," Max finished. "Something to kick start the Cube."
"When did you two become experts in thermonuclear astrophysics?"
"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers- am I the only one who did the reading?"
"I studied it at Harvard," Max said.
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?," Steve asked, getting back on topic.
"He'd have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner stated.
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the Quantum Tunneling effect," Tony said.
"Then he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Max said.
"Finally. People who speak English."
"Is that what just happened?," Steve asked as Tony and Bruce shook hands.
"It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you... lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
"...Thanks," Bruce said awkwardly.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot he could do that," Max admitted.
"Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube," Fury said, coming in. "I was hoping you might join him."
"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube. And I like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys? I do not understand-," Thor said before being interrupted.
"I do!," Steve exclaimed and the entire room goes instantly silent, staring at Steve. "I...I understood that reference."
"Good for you," Max said as Tony turned to Bruce
"Shall we play, Doctor?," he asked.
"This way, sir."
They walked out and Max turned to Fury.
"We both know that he'll try to learn all of SHIELD's secrets, so I have to ask."
"All records of your abilities have been put onto paper and the digital copies have been deleted and all traces are gone," Fury said. "Not even your father's AI could put it together."
"Good."
"Why don't you want him to know?," Steve asked.
"That's a question I've been asking myself for two years. I think it might be because... I'm scared."
"Scared?," Natasha said.
"That they'll try to protect me... by attempting to cure me. Take my speed away. Or the very worst, stop me from using them."
"I have every faith that your parents would never do that Max," Thor said.
"So do I, but I just can't take that risk," he explained. "You see... I love my powers. I love everything about them. When I use them, when I'm running... I feel like I'm the person I was always meant to be. And... I-I don't think I could go back to the life I had before I received these gifts."
"...That's perfectly understandable. And an answer I was waiting for as well," Fury said.
There was a small silence and then Max later on found himself in the training area, firing a handgun.
"Who the hell gave you a gun?!!," Hill demanded as she walked by and saw what he was doing.
"I found it," he said. "Honestly, somebody just left it somewhere."
"Well, I don't trust you with one. Give it to me."
"You do realize I am fifteen and I know how to use a gun, right?"
"I don't care."
"What's your problem with me, exactly?," he asked.
"I think you're the same as your father: a security risk," she answered. "You have powers never seen before and you wish to keep them to yourself."
"Those aren't good reasons. But they are reasons. My problem with you though is simpler... I just don't like you. Now that that's out of the way, I'm not giving you the gun."
"Why?"
"Because I need a way to defend myself should anything happen as I cannot risk using my powers around my father," he answered.
"...Fine," she said. "I'll make you a deal then. Get bullseye on each of those targets and then I'll even get you a holster."
Max nodded and went to the center of the range and reloaded his gun. He aimed carefully, but quickly and six shots at each target, hitting them dead center. He then just smirked at Hill.
"Barton taught me how to use a gun in case he wasn't there to protect me two years ago. Eidetic memory helps sometimes."
Though she would never admit it, Hill was actually impressed, and she walked over to a storage area and tossed him a holster that attaches to the hip, then she left and didn't look back.
Then suddenly, Max's phone went off and he looked to see Shuri messaging him.
"Anything interesting happen today?," she asked.
"Yeah, Thor is back," he answered.
"Really? Wow."
"Yeah. Listen, I don't think I'll be able to talk to you much in the next couple days due to all of this happening. Hope you don't mind."
"Well... just tell me everything that happens when you can. I have to go anyway. See ya."
"See ya."
He puts his phone away and he looks to see Thor there.
"It's been awhile huh?," he asked and Thor nodded.
"Indeed it has been," Thor said. "My father was quite apologetic for giving you so much power when you weren't ready for it. He didn't realize until he had heard you were in a coma."
"Well, when you see him again, tell him no worries. I'm fine now, and it's helped me get the means to be able to receive more speed now. Listen, Thor... there was something I wanted to talk about. Two things actually."
"Yes?"
"The first is about Shuri. You remember her right?"
"Of course, you always spoke highly of her."
"Well, during my time in Wakanda, near the end, I realized something... that I'm in love with her."
"Hahahaha!!!! Congratulations on that then, my brother!!!," Thor exclaimed and patted him hard on the shoulder.
"Thanks. Now the trick is to tell her, but I don't know how exactly. I'd ask my dad, but... he used to be a bit of a womanizer to say the least, so he's not much help there."
"Well, the best way is to not plan it out. Wait for the right time to tell her, and perhaps wait a few years as you're both very young. I believe your family and hers would probably feel more comfortable with that. But do not be afraid to tell her, and tell her whenever you think you should. I know you'll do the right thing. Now, what was the other thing?"
"Well... in Wakanda, Shuri and her older brother, Prince T'Challa, they had an adoptive brother, Jacob Tell," he said and began to tell the story of how Jacob had copied his powers and how he kidnapped Shuri. "We raced all over Wakanda and eventually we came to a cliff and... I put a sword through his chest."
Thor then stopped and looked his friend in the eyes.
"Your first kill?," he asked and Max nodded. "That is never easy. But it was to save another and possibly countless more, remember that."
"...Thanks. That helps. Another friend said that, depending on the reason you kill, it does get easier. Does sound right?"
"I do not believe I've ever heard truer word than those. I must go now, but it truly was good to talk with you again, Max."
"You too, Thor."
Thor then walked away and left Max to contemplate on what had been said between them. Max then decided that he should try to speak with someone he's not too keen to talk to. So he walked down to the cell and quietly snuck up to the entryway to Loki's cell. It was only then that the god of mischief felt his presence.
"There aren't many who can sneak up on me," he said.
"I thought a talk between us was about due," Max said.
"Hmm... I agree. Look at us... so alike and yet so different. Barton told me everything about you. How interesting of a life you've had."
"That's only what he knows. Not many people will know the real me."
"Just like me."
"We're nothing alike."
"Really? Think about it," Loki said, walking over to him. "We're both overlooked by all in favor of the rest of our families. We both are mysterious and secretive in our own way. And we'll do whatever it takes to get whatever we want."
"That's where you're wrong. Unlike you, who has wallowed in your jealousy and misery for who knows how long, I went out and made a name for myself. What I have done in my life thus far, almost no one has ever done. We're nothing alike, Loki, and you will fail. A crown will never rest upon your head, and if one does, it will not be for long. Because you're not fit to be a king."
Loki then got angry and hit the glass with the side of his fist to try to scare Max, who didn't so much as flinch.
"I am going to ensure that you suffer!! More than you clearly already are. And when you wallow in your misery, I will my attention to all of those you love and ensure their deaths are slow and painful. Then when you see just how much of a failure you are, I'll rip your barely beating heart out!!"
"...Tough talk," he said, completely unaffected by the threat he had just received. "Can't wait to see how you back it up. See ya later."
Max just walks out and leaves Loki alone again.
"...What an asshole," he said to himself once he'd left.
He then walked back to the lab and began helping his father and Bruce.
"Where were you?," Tony asked.
"Talking to some friends."
I'll stop here. Hope you all like this, not too sure about this one. But no matter what, hope you like it and until the next chapter is up, see ya later.