"Have you found her?" Steve asked Maria Hill when he entered the bridge of the helicarrier. Everyone had been ushered out before Tony and Steve arrived. Fury had been kind enough to give them time to clean up. Steve peeled out of his sweaty uniform and took a long, cold shower. He wanted to feel awake and feel alive. He was alive, and Brooklyn most likely wasn't. He'd sobbed until he felt numb, then replaced his agony with rage. Steve would rip Loki apart with his bare hands.
The bridge had been cleaned up until Steve could hardly tell there's been a fight, as if it was wiped away and forgotten about. Steve couldn't forget about it, though. He wasn't a SHIELD robot, and he would do whatever needed to be done to bring Loki to justice for what he'd done.
When he saw Director Fury and Stark though, Steve's resolve broke. He wasn't expecting Stark to take Coulson's death as hard as he did. Brooklyn wasn't the only one lost. They had to avenge the man who tried to stop Loki when the rest of them couldn't.
Hill shook her head, clearly feeling sorry for the Captain, "I'm sorry, Cap. We've searched everywhere. She most likely got sucked out after the cell dropped, unless she was taken by the hostiles when they left with the quinjet."
"That's almost worse." Steve mumbled, rubbing his temples as he sighed, "Thank you."
"We'll let you know if we find her. We know you two were close." Hill told Steve gently and took a few steps down the bridge to check on the computers with Fury as Steve took a seat at the conference table.
Steve looked to Stark, but he looked angry. He glared off into the distance, and Steve wished he could summon his anger again, but he just felt guilty. If he had been half as worried about the mission as he was about what SHIELD was doing trying to stop threats from other worlds, Coulson would still be alive. Brooklyn wouldn't be missing.
The idea of her taken by Loki was so much worse than the idea of her being dead, but it was palpable. Loki knew Steve was fond of her. She would be the perfect bait to lure Steve away from stopping the demi-god. If Loki used his scepter to control her mind… Steve didn't know what he would do if he had to fight Brooklyn.
"Where's Romanoff?" Stark asked coldly, breaking Steve from his worries.
"She's in the medical wing." Fury answered simply, taking a step up the stairs to speak with Tony and Steve. "It's just us."
Steve dropped his head, staring blankly at the table as he sat his hands on his lap. He wore his pants, boots, and undershirt, but he'd struggled with the top of his uniform. It was difficult, and the more he struggled, the more he felt broken without Brooklyn to guide him as she always did.
"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." Steve lifted his eyes to see what Fury was holding, and the director met his gaze, "Guess he never did get you to sign them."
Fury tossed the bloody trading cards onto the table, and Steve's stomach dropped. He carefully picked on up and looked at it, running his finger along the top.
Slight foxing around the edges.
Steve wasn't willing to give the man his time and attention, because he didn't want to be here. He wasn't willing to be happy for Brooklyn because he wasn't happy. He wasn't able to be the bigger man dealing with Tony Stark because he was young and still stuck in World War II. He was a soldier who needed strict directions and the authority to lead, and that just wasn't the world he lived in anymore. Brooklyn had tried to get him used to that, but he'd only used her as a distraction from the world he didn't want to be a part of. And now she was gone.
Setting down the trading card, Steve looked out the front of the bridge, seeing the fluffy clouds floating by. Somebody would have to explain to Mason what happened to Brooklyn. He remembered that Brooklyn didn't want SHIELD to know about her sister. Who was supposed to tell Dallas her sister was dead? Was she just supposed to worry about Brooklyn until she gave up and assumed something terrible had happened to her?
Suddenly, Tony stood up and paused for a moment, then walked off without a word. Steve watched him go, too broken to even move. Fury sighed and looked after Tony, clasping his hands behind his back, "Well, it's an old-fashioned notion."
"I'll go talk to him." Steve grumbled after a moment, needing to make sure what little was left of his team were okay.
"He's in the detention section." Hill called cautiously from the computer, shrugging when Fury shot her a look.
Steve wandered the empty halls of the helicarrier. It felt as if everyone had vanished, but he assumed they'd retreated to the barracks to mourn those they'd lost, just like the Avengers. He found Tony standing by the blood-stained wall, staring at it with his fist to his mouth.
Steve leaned against the railing at the opposite side and looked down at the closed door. To his surprise, it was actually Tony who spoke first, "Do you really think it's worse if Loki took her?"
Sighing, Steve shook his head, "I just hate to imagine him taking her mind and playing with it."
"But then she'd still be alive. Phil… Coulson, he's gone."
"Was he married?" Steve asked quietly, wondering if Coulson had a wife somewhere who was waiting for him to come home.
Stark didn't look away from the wall as he spoke, as if in a trance, "No. There was uh, a cellist, I think."
"He seemed like a good man." Steve said quietly and Stark snorted, "He was an idiot."
Steve sighed and shook his head, looking at the bloody wall with Stark before he started to walk towards the man, "We don't know what happened."
"He shouldn't have taken on Loki alone-"
"We don't know if he was alone." Steve said sternly as Tony reached him and Stark laughed mockingly.
"What is it with you and that girl? She's just a girl. I've never seen anyone so infatuated with someone so ordinary." Stark groaned and turned away.
Steve bobbed his head a little as the corner of his mouth turned up slightly, "She's patient. She helps calm me. When I'm overwhelmed, she reminds me that I'm just one person."
Stark seemed to consider this and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever. Sap. Whether Loki has her or not, we have to find him."
"Well, he's not exactly subtle."
"He's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the sky with his name plastered on it…" Tony paused, and Steve waited for him to finish his thought, "Son of a bitch. He's going to my tower."
Tony started jogging out of the detention unit, turning to Steve down the hallway, "Get Romanoff, meet me in midtown. I'm gonna need a new suit…" Tony spoke to himself as he kept walking away from Steve.
Steve looked for Romanoff, finally catching a glimpse of her fiery red hair through the window of one of the medical rooms. The door slid open and Steve didn't waste any time with pleasantries, "Time to go."
"Go where." Natasha asked without so much as blinking. She didn't seem phased by Steve's appearance and demand.
"I'll explain on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" Steve asked. He looked up when the bathroom door slid open and Romanoff's partner emerged.
"I can." Barton said, devoid of any emotion.
Steve looked to Natasha questioningly, unsure if he was ready to trust the brainwashed archer he'd read so much about. Natasha gave him a firm nod though, and that's all Steve needed. He didn't have time to waste, "You got a suit?"
"Yeah." Barton answered with as little vigor as he'd spoken before.
Steve didn't need him to be excited, he just needed him to follow directions, "Then suit up."
"Yeah, you maybe should, too." Natasha said with a coy grin. Steve huffed, looking down at his blue undershirt as he tightened his jaw.
"I can't get it on by myself."
"Do I look like Hayes?"
"She's gone." Steve said bluntly and Natasha's expression saddened with realization. "A little help would go a long way."
Natasha nodded, looking to Clint. "Meet us in the hangar?"
"You got it, Nat. Captain." Clint said with a smile and Steve felt a little more at ease in his presence.
He led Natasha back to the vault where Brooklyn had locked up his shield, handing her the red and white boning that he knew went on first, "I'll figure it out, I'm just-"
"You're okay, Cap." Natasha told the soldier softly as she swiftly zipped him up before helping him into the sleeves, "I'm sorry about Brooklyn."
"She was my first friend after everyone I knew died." Steve answered without prompting, already knowing it would be some sort of 'you two were close' or 'you really liked her'. Natasha held down the blue fabric and worked on putting it together, looking up at Steve but not saying anything. He chewed the inside of his cheek and sighed, "I just wanted to be someone she would be happy with, because I was so happy when it was just her and I."
"That's not realistic, Cap. The world needs you, and SHIELD needs her. It can't be just the two of you."
"Yeah, but now I can't have her at all. I should have just been happy to have her in my life."
"Her fling with that Mason guy, it'll never last." Romanoff said casually as she looked at Steve's shield. When Steve didn't respond, she looked over to him, "You know why, right?"
Steve's brows furrowed and he pursed his lips thoughtfully, shaking his head a little. Natasha smiled and nodded, sighing at Steve, "Because she's in love with you."
"No. No, it's not possible. I've tried, she's not interested." Steve stammered as he grabbed his shield and strapped it on, starting towards the door, "I've been very obvious."
"And very oblivious because that girl is head over heels for you. Whatever reason she has for not wanting to date you isn't lack of interest. That much is clear."
Steve stopped and turned to Natasha, "Can we stop talking about her like she's here. She's almost certainly dead, and if she isn't, she's been taken by Loki. I'll probably never see her again."
Natasha shrugged, looking up at Steve as she walked past him, "There's only one way to find out."
She led him to the inside hanger of the helicarrier, where they met up with Hawkeye. Steve took the lead as they flanked him, charging towards a jet where a young man was tinkering with the controls. Steve hopped up the ramp and the man looked up in panic, "Hey, you guys aren't authorized to-"
"Son," Steve warned, looking down at the man, "Just don't."
The agent scrambled off as Natasha and Clint strapped into the cockpit, "Son?"
"It just slipped out." Steve grumbled as he hit the button to close the back of the jet, "We don't have much time."
"Well than hang onto something, because it's going to be a rough ride." Clint said as he thrust the stick forward, picking up speed before flying out of the hanger and towards Manhattan.
By the time they reached New York though, there was a beam of light coming from the sky to Stark Tower and creatures zipping down from the portal into the city. Steve grabbed onto the top of the jet, hanging on as they approached, "Oh my God."
"Stark, we're on your three, headed north east!" Natasha called over the comm as they reached the city.
"What did you stop for drive thru?" Stark barked, "Swing up Park, I'm gonna lay them out for you!"
Clint did as Stark said, taking a hard right to come up Park Avenue. Natasha brought down the gun and began to shoot at the aliens as they grew closer to Grand Central Station. "Hold on!" Clint yelled when they reached the building, narrowly missing crashing into the aliens as he pulled the jet straight up towards the top of Stark Tower.
When they reached the top of the tower, Clint murmured, "Nat," when he caught a glimpse of Loki fighting Thor.
"I see him." Natasha answered, preparing to shoot the God of Mischief. Suddenly, Loki aimed his scepter at the quinjet and shot out the left engine, causing the jet to begin falling wildly out of the city skyline.
Steve clung on for dear life as his feet were lifted off the ground while the jet crashed into the side of a building. Clint tried desperately to keep enough control to put them down somewhere safe. He saw an empty area off to the side of the street and helped the jet down, crashing hard into the concrete and sliding to a stop into the bottom floor of a nearby building.
Natasha and Clint quickly unstrapped from the cockpit and opened up the rear, allowing Cap to run out first into the street. He looked up, seeing they were farther down Park Avenue with a perfect view of Stark Tower and the aliens descending from the sky. "We gotta get back up there!"
When they reached Grand Central, Natasha, Clint, and Steve stopped and looked up, seeing a massive creature emerge from the wormhole above the tower, along with hundreds more of the alien invaders. Dozens of the aliens shot out from the side of the leviathan, crashing through windows into office buildings to undoubtedly terrorize the humans inside.
Steve panted as he looked at the destruction, trying to decide where to even begin. "Stark, you seeing this?"
"Seeing. Still working on believing. Where's Banner? He shown up yet?"
"Banner?" Steve asked, unsure where Stark's mind was going. Banner fell out of the sky. They were lucky they knew Thor was alive and would hopefully be able to subdue Loki.
As quickly as Steve's hopes were dreamt up, they were dashed as Loki sped by followed by a hoard of aliens, blasting into the busy city street. The three ducked behind an abandoned taxi, but Steve looked over his shoulder at the sound of screaming pedestrians below. "They're fish in a barrel down there."
"We got this, go." Natasha urged Steve, and he didn't ask for permission again, jumping over the Pershing Square Bridge and diving off of a truck as it overturned, running for his life to help get the civilians to safety.
Author's Notes-
zikachigaku- Emotions are running SO HIGH between the two! Especially now that Steve doesn't know where she's at, but don't worry, he'll run into her soon enough!
cyrbrii- I'm so glad you're loving it! I've had a lot of fun writing this story and I can't wait for you to see what you think next!
Leave me thoughts on what you think happened to Brooklyn? Was she taken by Loki? Was she sucked out the hole in the helicarrier? What state will Cap find her in the next chapter? When I get three reviews I'll post what happens next 3