a/n: so i kinda feel this chapter was a little rushed. but i also don't think I could have done better with it if i had a year to work on it. please review. hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2. A Fly in the Spider's Web

"Holy crap? Are you serious right now?" A voice said from above. Loki looked up, and saw a crimson and black clad form, crouched on a street lamp. "Way to be stereotypical, Prancer. A monologue. A freaking monologue. What's next you tell you victims that they want to be ruled and controlled? That they don't want freedom?"

Loki scowled at the masked figure of Crimson Spider. This fool had ruined his moment. He opened his mouth to speak, but Crimson Spider cut him off. "Holy shit! You were, weren't you? So cliché!" Loki growled, having had enough of the fools mouth. He sent a blast from his staff at Crimson Spider. The man leapt from the street lamp, flipping out a line of web, and swinging at Loki.

The Asgardian was to slow to dodge, as Crimson Spider slammed both feet into his chest. Loki went flying over the crowd, landing hard on his back, while Crimson Spider landed in a crouch. Loki scrambled to his feet, staff in hand, and sent a second blast at the costumed hero. A red, white, and blue form, with a round shield dropped to the ground, blocking the blast with said shield.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."(1) Captain America said.

"I wouldn't bother, Cap." Crimson Spider quipped. "Prancer over there doesn't seem the type for witty banter." Captain America smiled at his new partner.

"On the contrary, you insignificant bug." Loki sneered, hefting his staff. "I quite enjoy banter. Unfortunately, it is such a pity you are as witless as you appear."

"Ooh. Snarky." Crimson Spider said. "So the legends are true. You do have a quick tongue. But here's the question, are your instincts just as quick?" He flicked out a shot of web, causing Loki to dodge. Right into the shield thrown by Captain America. The god once again, found himself flying through the air, landing unceremoniously on his face.

He got to his feet, to find both heroes nearly on top of him, coming in from both sides. The two fought well together. It was almost as though they had been working together all their life. Loki soon found himself overwhelmed, by the sheer ferocity the two men fought with.

He slammed the butt of his staff into the ground, blasting the two back, and giving himself some breathing room. Panting, he scowled, and raised his staff to shoot at the pair. Before he could do so, however, he was hit by a red and gold blur, sending him sailing for a third time that night. He felt the staff jerk out of his grip just before he landed.

Crimson Spider watched Loki sit up, just as the red and gold armored form of Ironman landed. The face plate slid up, to reveal Tony Stark. "Make a move, Reindeer Games." The Billionaire, Genius, Playboy, Philanthropist said. Loki put his hands up in surrender. "Good move."(2)

"Does anyone else feel like that was too easy?" Harry said, standing near the cockpit of the Quinjet. His unmasked eyes were fixed firmly on Loki. Stark looked over at him, and nodded.

"It is kinda strange." He said. "Why would Rock of Ages give up so easily." Steve snorted.

"I don't remember it being that easy." The Super Soldier said. "I mean, that man packs a wallop."

"Really? A wallop?" Harry snickered. Steve and Stark ignored him.

"Still, you are pretty spry," Stark said, turning to Steve. "You know, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?(3)" Steve stared at him.

"You've missed a few things, Steve." Harry said, smiling. "Think calisthenics, lots of stretching and stuff." He suddenly became nervous, his smile slipping from his face, as thunder rolled outside the Quinjet.

"Where did this come from?" Natasha asked, as rain splashed against the front window. Loki shuddered, and looked towards the nearest window. The three men in the back noticed his weary look.

"Aw. Is Prancer scared of a little lightning?" Harry snarked, causing Stark to smirk.

"No. But I'm not particularly fond of what comes after." Loki snarked back. The Quinjet suddenly rocked, as something hit it. Stark grabbed his helmet, and secured it into place, while Harry pulled his mask on. The group turned to the back of the aircraft, as the ramp was forced open.

Harry stared at the large, armor clad, blond man that entered the Quinjet. The very fact that the man was flying on his own was amazing. Stark moved towards the man, as he grabbed Loki by the shirt collar, and took off out of the Quinjet. "And now there's this Guy."

"Think the guy's a friendly?" Steve asked.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony growled as he turned and got ready to jump off the jet to chase after the big man.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Harry yelled to the man.

"I have a plan. Attack." Came the reply, as Stark activated his thrusters and took off after the Asgardian duo. Harry and Steve sighed.

"I'm on it." Harry said, following the brash billionaire. Steve shook his head, donned his own helmet, and grabbed a parachute. Natasha looked back at him, and shook her head.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." She said.

"I don't see how I can." Steve replied.

"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." (4)Captain America said as he jumped out of the jet.

Harry followed after the lights of Stark's thrusters. He had almost caught up, having used his magic to increase his speed, when Stark turned on the afterburners. Harry watched as the armor clad man slammed into one of the figures below. A quick flip and he landed on his feet next to Loki.

"And here I thought I had rid myself of the pest." Loki quipped. Without looking Harry flipped out a wad of web that covered Loki's mouth. Off in the near distance, he saw Stark apparently goading the larger man, who the wizard thought might be Thor, the God of Thunder. A few more quick web shoots had Loki trapped against the rock wall nearby.

The sound of electricity crackling, filled the forest, indicating a fight had broken out between Stark and Thor. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Guess their done with the 'my horse is bigger' portion of tonight's entertainment." He said to Loki. The god grumbled through his gag. Moments later Captain America floated past on his parachute. "Cap! Wait up!" Harry yelled flipping out a web line and swinging off, after the Star-spangled Hero.

Cap landed on a downed tree and hurled his shield. It ricocheted off both combatants, drawing their attention. "Hey! That's enough!" He said sternly, as he leapt down to the ground, catching his shield as it flew back toward him. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here."

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor said.

"Then prove it! Put the hammer down."

"Um, yeah, no! Bad call! He loves his hammer!" Stark said, sarcastically. Thor smacked the billionaire with said hammer.

"You want me to put the hammer down?" The God of Thunder asked. He leapt into the air, Mjolnïr raised over his head, lightning collecting on its head.(5)

"Yeah, no." Said Harry, from behind the god, a line of web flying out and catching Thor's cape. Harry yanked back, causing Thor to drop to the ground. Mjolnïr flew from his hand and hit Captain America's shield, sending a shockwave to spread from the point of impact, knocking down trees and heroes. Harry coughed from where he landed. "Now if we're all done acting like children, can we focus on the real threat?"

The other three men nodded, sheepishly, as Natasha brought the Quinjet in for a landing. Harry swung up to where he had left Loki webbed to the rock face. A quick tug, and the God of Mischief was pulled from the wall. Harry wrapped the strands of web around Loki's torso, effectively binding the man. Loki was then frog marched down to the Quinjet, and secured in a seat. Once everyone was on board, Natasha took off, and continued the journey back to the Helicarrier.

Hermione examined the work space she had been given. The technology at her fingers made her salivate. The hansom physicist who shared the lab with her, certainly didn't hurt either. Over the past couple of hours since Harry and Steve Rogers left, the 2 had gotten to know one another. Bruce reminded her of Remus Lupin, insofar as the 2 had the same temperament.

Bruce, like Remus, dealt with a second side of him. One he had a hard time accepting. Hermione had been telling him of her former professor, and how he had finally come to terms with the monster within. "It helps to have someone there to help you through it." She had told him. "Remus has his wife and son." Bruce had tried to tell her that he didn't want to endanger anyone by exposing them to the Other Guy. It had been why he and Betty Ross had went their separate ways. Hermione had refused to accept that, and was slowly wearing the man down.

The 2 were now working on setting up their sensors. They looked up as a procession of SHIELD Agents walked past leading a web bound Loki past the window. Hermione frowned as Loki smirked at Bruce, predatorily. She didn't like that smirk, it seemed as though he knew what Bruce was.

Bruce offered Hermione his hand and led her to the bridge. Harry, Natasha, Steve, and Thor were gathered around the conference table, watching as Loki was secured in a large glass prison, secured over a large trapdoor. Fury was attempting to intimidate the God.

"Well, that was interesting." Harry said, as the screen went black. "But, what does Loki gain from attacking Earth?"

"What's his play here?" Steve asked, turning to Thor. The Thunderer grimaced.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thor explained, drawing shocked looks.

"Wait, what?" Harry said. "An alien army? He has an alien army? From space?" Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend's redundancy.

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Bruce said, looking over at Hermione. She nodded thoughtfully, as Thor perked up.

"Selvig?" He asked.

"A well known Astrophysicist." Hermione said. "I've read several of his papers. He and Jane Foster believed that the Mythical Rainbow Bridge was an Einstein-Rosenberg Bridge."

"He's a friend." Thor said. "As is Lady Jane Foster."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Said Natasha.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him so easily." Harry scowled. Steve nodded in agreement.

"He's not leading an army from here." The Captain said.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Bruce said. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him"

"Have a care how you speak about Loki." Thor growled. "He may be beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."

"Seriously guy," Harry said. "He killed 88 people."

"In 2 days." Natasha piped up. Thor grimaced, sheepishly.

"Um...he's adopted?" Harry snickered at Thor's discomfort, before flinching, as both Natasha and Hermione reached over and smacked the back of his head.

"Oy!" He said indignantly, but was ignored.

" I want to know about the Iridium," Hermione said. "What did they need the Iridium for? Seems strange to me."

"It's a stabilizing agent. Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD." Stark said, as he and Coulson walked in. The billionaire patted Thor's arm as he walked past to Fury's station. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants." Hermione and Bruce stared at him, then glanced at each other.

"I guess that makes sense." Hermione said, quietly.

"Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Stark said from Fury's station. Covering his eye, he looked around. "How does Fury do this?"

"He turns." Severus sneered. Harry smiled at his guardian. The man still had no patience for arrogant people.

"Well, that sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily." Stark explained, discreetly placing a small device under one of Fury's monitors. "Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube."(6)

"So to sum it up." Harry said, cutting Hermione off as she began to say something. She glared at him. "Loki needs the Iridium, and an energy source to bring his army to earth. He has the Cube and the Iridium. We have him. He turned Barton and Selvig into his personal flying monkeys to help him."

"I understand that reference." Steve said, excitedly. Stark and Harry rolled their eyes.

"Fury gathered us up, to what?" Harry continued.

"To find the Cube and stop Loki." Fury said. "I was Hoping Stark could join Doctors Banner and Granger."

"We can start by analyzing that staff of his." Hermione said.

"Shall we play, then Doctors?" Stark said.

"Let's play." The 2 said, heading to their lab.

A_

Harry, Natasha and Thor entered the lab, just in time to hear Steve tell Hermione, Bruce and Stark what Phase 2 was. Fury attempted to explain but was stopped by Stark turning a monitor towards him.

"What were you lying?" The billionaire said. On the monitor were plans for different types of energy weapons. Fury scowled.

"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said, glaring right back. Harry glanced around the room, taking in the looks on everyone's faces. A quick nudge to Natasha, had the super spy glancing at the pissed off look on Bruce's face, and the green tint to the man's eyes.

"Perhaps Dr. Banner should remove himself from the situation?" Natasha said. Bruce growled.

"I was pretty well removed in Calcutta." He said. Hermione put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm the man. "Now that I'm here I'm not leaving till it's done."

"Perhaps the Director can tell us why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to make WMDs?" Hermione said, glaring at Fury.

"Because of him." The man said, jerking a thumb towards Harry and Thor. The two stared at each other. "Thor." Fury explained.

"Me?" Thor asked, incredulously. Fury nodded, and began to explain about how the God had come to Earth, and the chaos that followed. Earth needed to be prepared for a potential Intergalactic invasion. Soon everyone was arguing. It came to a head when Fury began to order Natasha to take Bruce to his Quarters.

"You already rented out my room!" Bruce said.

"The cell was just in case…"Fury began, but was cut off by Bruce again.

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" Bruce said, his shoulders sagging. Hermione gasped, and moved to put her arms around him. He smiled sadly down at her. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone at risk! So do you wanna know my secret, Agent Romanov? How I stay so calm?"

"Bruce!" Hermione gasped, as Fury and Natasha placed their hands near their sidearms. "Please put the staff down. We can talk about it. Just you and me. I promise." Bruce looked down and saw that he did indeed have the staff in his hand. At that moment the computer beeped.

"Sorry folks, guess my secret is gonna have to wait" Bruce said, dropping the staff on a table, and moving to the computer. Another argument started over where the cube was going to end up once it was in their custody.

Harry shook his head in dismay. Suddenly his 'Spider Sense began to tingle. Something was coming. "Hey!" He called getting everyone's attention. "We have a problem."

"Oh my god!" Bruce and Hermione gasped from the computer. Moments later an explosion rocked the Helicarrier.

a/n2: so yeah a few large chunks taken almost directly from the movie, with a few modifications. their numbered so as to avoid people thinking i just plagiarized them. like i said rushed. please review, and try to be kind. just remember, i may be extremely high Functioning, but I'm still Autistic. my mind doesn't work quite like a normal person's.