It had been two years. Two years since her entire life had changed. All it had taken was a hammer falling from the sky. One hammer and she had found out that she was an entirely different person.
Nola, goddess of chaos and destruction. An Asgardian princess, sister to the Almighty Thor.
Two years since they had stopped their brother Loki from destroying Jotunheim but had also lost his life in the process. And then she had been thrown from the Bifrost into oblivion.
What happened after, she didn't know. All she knew was that she had woken up in a S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital, Dr. Wheaton at her side. He relayed the events to her. Several sources in Oklahoma had seen a meteor or satellite streak through the sky and crash. One of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s own satellites had picked up a blurred image of something resembling a comet or meteor hurtling towards Earth. Further investigation led to the satellite finding the crash-site, where a corn field had been completely decimated by a meteor.
Well, by her.
That was where they found her. Director Fury had immediately sent a recovery team to the small little town. They had extracted her and flew her back to D.C. for observations.
In the time she had been back and functioning, a lot had happened. Fury had tried to reassign her to office work. That hadn't gone over very well. They both knew she was an invaluable asset to the organization and sticking her behind piles of paperwork was only going to hurt them. In the end, she wound up back in the field with Nat and Clint. Fury had decided that, after recent events, S.H.I.E.L.D. would be aiming their future efforts towards defending Earth against extraterrestrial threats.
Within a few weeks, The World Security Council had given Fury the go-ahead for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s revision, going so far as to provide funding. After that meeting, Fury had approached her in secret and told her about his new vision for the world. A world protected by Earth's mightiest heroes. A group of extraordinarily capable individuals who could defend the world better than any of the ordinary military forces.
And he wanted her to be a part of it. She had inhuman abilities and was a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., there was no one better suited. And if he ever returned, Thor was on the shortlist as well.
She didn't know how to say no. She couldn't say no. And she didn't.
When the time came, and she knew it would, she would be a member of Fury's Avengers Initiative.
For whatever it was worth, she wasn't the biggest fan of the Helicarrier. In theory, it was a great idea. A massive air vehicle serving as a mobile headquarters. Labs, bunks, offices. The Helicarrier even had the ability to go ghost, using a chameleon technology to blend in and go off the grid.
"It's nice." She mumbled to Nat. "A little much, but it's nice."
Nat chuckled, saying that Fury wanted to make sure that whatever his special team needed, they would have. "Are we being punished or rewarded for making it on the shortlist?"
She shrugged as they started down to the office level. Fury had his own office and so did Dr. Wheaton. "Hard to say with Fury at the helm. Maybe both."
Up above, she heard something crash. Her brain wanted to chalk it off to clumsy workers who had no doubt dropped something invaluable. But her gut, and the prickled tugging feeling in her stomach, said otherwise. Two years ago, she would have passed the feeling off as intuition, maybe even nerves, but now? Now she knew it was a feeling of recognition. Chaos recognized chaos and she knew when it was coming.
That was what the feeling told her then. "Something is wrong." She told Nat.
Almost instantly, both of them went into fight mode. Nat steeled herself and Rosalie adjusted the braces on her wrists. Dr. Wheaton had made them for her. After weeks of training her abilities, she always ended up unusually drained and weak. On a few occasions, she had even passed out. Testing had concluded that letting the chaos magic fully take over had a near-fatal effect on her. It would bring her to the brink of death and, Dr. Wheaton theorized, had the ability to actually kill her. To prevent that from happening, he had fashioned metal braces that had a technology that would limit her ability to use her power. With the braces on, she couldn't use the magic at full-force.
She heard a thud against the ceiling and her head jerked up. "Intruder?" She suggested. It should have been nearly impossible for the Helicarrier to gain an intruder. But they lived in a world where Asgardian gods existed and the jet that Captain America had crashed into the Artic way back when had been fully recovered, with Captain America somehow still alive. She was living proof that anything could happen.
"What could they be after?" Nat asked. "It's an empty ship. No cargo, no crew. Nothing."
Rosalie glanced back at the metal staircase. Down the hall, she could see the line of offices squared off. Fury's was at the very end of the hall, his being the biggest. His hard-drive had all the important information about the Avengers Initiative. The shortlist, personnel files, specs of the Helicarrier. Anything that Fury deemed necessary for his pet project, it was on that computer.
"Avengers Initiative." They whispered together.
"You secure Fury's office. I'll take the upper decks." Rose told Nat. She didn't wait for Nat's confirmation before she turned, sprinting up the stairs.
Several of the guards on the bunk deck were lying unconscious at the entrance of the level. None of the doors were open, but then again, what intruder would want to check out the bunks? She ran up the stairs at the other end of the hall, entering the med level. Everything seemed to be in place. Some of the equipment hadn't been brought in yet, but a lot of the highly classified medicines and experimental drugs were locked up.
She double-checked the cabinet, giving the padlock a rough yank. It had been designed to withhold against even her superhuman strength. But it was just an extra precaution. If someone managed to get past the padlock, there was an eye retina scanner, fingerprint, and then a coded password. Someone had to have the key, the right eye scan, the right fingerprint, and a special password before being allowed to enter the cabinet.
"Stand down, Wheaton. It was an exercise." Nat's voice waved in her ear.
Her shoulders slumped in relief. "Says who?"
"Barton. He's our intruder. Head down to Fury's office."
She unfastened the braces on her wrists, sticking them in her belt. By the time she got back down to Fury's office, the director himself was sitting behind his desk. Nat and Clint were standing off to the side, talking quietly.
"Great work, both of you." Fury told them. "You assessed the situation, made a quick plan, and acted accordingly. Had this been a real situation, you would have failed. Despite your best efforts, Agent Barton still managed to break into my office and access the files." Rose leaned against the wall, asking what the point of the training exercise was. He patted the top of his computer. "All of the top-secret information about the world's most capable and powerful individuals is on this hard-drive. The World Council doesn't even have most of the information on here. I wanted to test the security. And the two of you."
She crossed her arms over her chest, glancing at Nat and Clint and then looked back to Fury. "Does this mean it's happening? Is the Avengers Initiative coming into play?" She asked him. Thor was off-world. Tony Stark had not-so-politely declined the offer. Bruce Banner was on some kind of self-discovery mission in Asia and no one had seen the big guy in months. Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, was out of commission, as Fury put it. No one was to contact him. He was taking time adjusting to the 21st century.
That left the three of them standing before Fury. Natasha Romanoff. Clinton Barton. Herself, Rosalie Wheaton. Also known as Nola.
"It shouldn't." Clint spoke. "Half the names on that list aren't reliable candidates. You said it yourself, Wheaton, there's a good chance Thor is never coming back. Rogers more than likely doesn't want to put the suit back on. Banner…there's always a bigger risk than reward with him. And well, we all know Tony Stark. He works for himself and only himself."
Fury leaned forward in his chair. "You make valid points, Barton, but we can count on them. I promise."
Rose pushed off the wall, keeping her arms crossed. "You didn't answer my question, though." She reminded him. Her arms fell to her sides and she used her hands to lean against his desk. "Is it happening? Are you calling up the force?"
There was a glint in his eyes that made her believe it. Something had happened, something none of them knew about, and Fury was about to make the call to bring together the most powerful people to protect their world.
"No." He finally said. "Not yet."
She hadn't expected to feel so deflated at hearing the world wasn't in imminent danger.
"I'll only make the call when the world most needs the Avengers. And only then."
It was a lonely time to be in Washington D.C. Nat was undercover. Fury, Dr. Wheaton, Coulson, and Clint were all at the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility. She had been left behind to 'keep an eye on Cale and Garrett', as Coulson had joked. Surprisingly, the two idiots had grown up a lot over the past two years.
"Agent Wheaton, what are you doing here?"
She looked up from the catalog. Most of her shopping occurred online after circling half-interesting things in catalogs Nat not-so-discreetly dropped off. Her salad sat untouched in front of her.
Agent Brock Rumlow was standing in front of her. He was dressed unusually formal, suit and tie.
"In the cafeteria or at work?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because if you're asking why I'm in the cafeteria, it's because I hate my office and it's my lunch break. But if you're wondering about why-."
Rumlow had an irritatingly easy smile. Like it was something that came very natural to him. At least, that was what she thought. She had never seen him smile much. Granted, she didn't think she had even seen anyone on the STRIKE team smile that often. "I meant, why are you in D.C.? I figured you would have accompanied Fury and Dr. Wheaton."
She closed the catalog, laying it down on the table. "Someone has to keep Cale and Garrett in line." She told him.
He motioned to the empty seat and she nodded. He sat down next to her, placing a salad container and water bottle on the table. "Heard you put the fear of God in them down in New Mexico."
She laughed, shaking her head. "Not like it's very hard. The dumbasses aren't the brightest bulbs we've got in the box." Rumlow agreed, but said they had to take what they could. Great recruits weren't exactly easy to come by anymore. "Right. They all don't just fall out of the sky with no memory and superpowers." Something in her pocket buzzed and she took out her phone. Unidentifiable number. She excused herself from Rumlow and walked out of the cafeteria to the patio area. "Who is this?"
"Wheaton, it's Fury."
Something in his voice sounded off. "What happened?"
As Fury spoke, her heart settled itself in the deep pit of her gut. She had grabbed onto a patio table for support. The longer he went on, the worse she felt. Something cracked in her hand. When she looked down at the table, she saw that she had broken it in two. The halves lay haphazardly on the concrete ground, jagged like a broken heart.
She met the quinjet on the southern helipad of the Triskelion. Fury stepped out first, a morbidly solemn look on his face. Coulson and Agent Hill exited behind him, engaged in a quiet and serious conversation.
"I'm sorry." Fury said. He wasn't one for hugs and if he had of been, she didn't think she would have accepted it. "I know he meant a lot to you."
She blinked, refusing to cry. They didn't have time for that. Fury hadn't given her much information on the phone, only quick specs. "It's part of the job." She said thickly. "Now, what exactly happened?"
He relayed the events to her. The Tesseract had been acting up, turning on by itself and surging energy levels. They had evacuated the facility of people and important equipment. Then, the Tesseract had opened up a portal. "Wheaton, it was Loki." He told her.
Loki. The bitter-hearted brother who had let himself fall from the Rainbow Bridge into oblivion. "You're sure?" She asked quietly. "I thought he would be dead." She paused, glancing back at Coulson and Hill. "Then again, I survived the fall. Why shouldn't he have?"
Fury put a comforting hand on her shoulder before they began to walk again. They made it to the elevator and stepped in, waiting for Hill and Coulson. Coulson said they would give them some alone time and take the next lift down. The doors slid shut.
S.H.I.E.L.D. did not believe in elevator music.
As they descended, she could see the Potomac in the back, water glistening in the sun. "What else?"
Fury told her that Loki had come with a scepter of sorts and had taken out several agents. In the end, Loki had gotten away with the Tesseract and a few agents. "Dr. Selvig and Agent Barton were among those who were compromised." He said it with such a finality that she almost wondered if he meant they had died as well. "This is a Level Seven, Agent Wheaton, do you understand what that means?"
She drew her eyes away from the Potomac so that she was looking right at him. The name had a new meaning now. Agent Wheaton. It had been love, acceptance, a family and home in spite of a void of nothingness in the back of her mind. Now, it meant war.
"Yes. I do." Something gold flashed behind the blue of her eyes.
The Helicarrier was going up at any time. Agents were scurrying around the top deck, making sure everything was in check. Coulson was bringing in Captain Rogers. She was waiting with Nat on the hangar for Coulson to arrive. She was to take Coulson to Fury for further debriefing.
"Four months ago, Fury was telling us that this wasn't happening anytime soon. And now here we are." Rose muttered.
Nat gave her a sympathetic look. They had both lost the people they were closest to. At least Nat's had a chance of coming back. "You know if you ever want to talk about it…"
Rose shook her head. "I'm fine. Really."
The low roar of the quinjet came overhead and she looked up. She watched as it landed and a few minutes later, Coulson stepped out with a man she could only assume was Captain Steve Rogers.
He was a lot more handsome in person. Slicked back hair, fresh face. Great body. She chastised herself for thinking of such things at a time.
"Captain Rogers, this is Agent Romanoff." He motioned to Nat. "And this is Agent Wheaton." Captain Rogers nodded cordially at both of them.
"Coulson, you're needed elsewhere. A little face-to-face time." Rose told him. She turned her attention to Steve. "Glad to have you on the team." She and Coulson began walking away. Curiosity got the best of her and she turned back. Rogers was looking at her in a precarious manner. She jerked her head back around. "So, was it everything you ever dreamed? Meeting your childhood hero?"
Coulson couldn't keep the grin from his face. "I'm sure I sounded like an idiot." She assured him that there was no way he could have, Cale and Garrett were around somewhere claiming that title for themselves. The jab at the two absent agents made Coulson shake his head in disapproval, but she saw the hint of a smile he was hiding.
They made it to the bridge of the ship. By the time they arrived, the Helicarrier had gone ghost mode. There were a few dozen agents stationed in the bridge area. Each had a computer viewscreen to work from. These were the agents tasked with scouring the planet for signs of Loki, the Tesseract, Dr. Selvig, and Clint.
Agent Hill was standing at the command center, Fury next to her in the command chair.
"Brought you a friend." She told Fury, motioning to Coulson. "Nice work, letting him bring Rogers in."
Coulson's cheeks turned pink. "It was an honor, sir. Thank you."
Fury stood up from the chair. "Great work, Agent Coulson. I need you to make a call for me." He pulled Coulson aside and the two of them walked a few feet away.
Rose turned to Agent Hill. "Everything holding up okay?"
Agent Hill nodded. She reported that the reflectors were working correctly, and the engines seemed to be in good shape. "Agent Wheaton, are you…holding up okay? I know how close you and Dr. Wheaton have grown over the years."
Rose looked out at the sky. "Yes, thank you. I want to find my brother and bring him to justice."
"Dr. Banner. Captain Rogers." She heard Fury speak up.
She turned back around just in time to see Captain Rogers hand Fury a ten-dollar bill. Fury pocketed the cash and extended his hand to Dr. Banner. Banner shook it carefully before shoving his hand back in the front pocket of his pants.
"Thank you both for coming." Fury told them. Dr. Banner asked how long he would be needed. "You're good to go as soon as the Tesseract is back in our possession." Rosalie excused herself from Agent Hill and went to stand beside Fury. "You've met Agent Wheaton?" He asked the two men.
"Yes sir." Captain Rogers nodded once.
"She's one of our best. She and Agent Romanoff will be working on the team with you." Fury told them. Dr. Banner asked where they were in the process of locating the Tesseract. Fury left Coulson to explain.
Coulson told Dr. Banner that S.H.I.E.L.D. had access to every wireless camera on the globe. If the Tesseract connected to the satellite, they would know immediately. Nat, who had entered the bridge and was standing behind one of the agents who had an image of Clint pulled up, told Coulson that even with all the camera access, they still didn't have a lot of time.
"How many spectrometers can you get me access to?" Dr. Banner asked Fury. He said as many as he needed. "Call any lab you can think of and have them put their spectrometers on the roof and to calibrate them for gamma rays." Banner instructed. "I can draw up an algorithm to track the Tesseract and it can rule out at least a few places. Is there a lab I can use?"
Everything he was saying was flying right over her head. The only thing she managed to latch onto was gamma rays. She knew that Dr. Banner, in an attempt to recreate Dr. Abraham Erskine's super-solider serum, had used gamma radiation and ended up turning into a big green not-so-jolly giant. Hopefully, this time around went better.
"Agent Romanoff will escort you to your laboratory." Fury told her.
Nat walked over and nodded in the direction of the hall. "Come on, Doc. Let me show you all our toys." Banner sped up his walk to catch up with her and Rosalie watched the two of them disappear.
Rosalie looked at Fury. "Permission to try something?" She asked, glancing down at her wrists. The thick metal braces around her wrists glinted in the stream of sunlight coming through the window.
Wheaton had crafted them from iridium, one of the rarer elements S.H.I.E.L.D. had gotten its hands on. The element could create antiprotons, which Dr. Wheaton had found could stabilize the amount of power she used.
"Granted."
She unlocked the braces and took them from her wrists. She handed them to Fury, and he gave her a questioning look. Walking over to the window that overlooked the sky, she pressed her hands against the glass. She closed her eyes and focused.
The glass directly beneath her hands vibrated against her palms. Chaos recognized chaos. Maybe she could focus hard enough and detect the energy of the Tesseract.
Behind her, she could hear Coulson talking about his vintage Captain America cards. "Phil." She said sharply.
"Agent Wheaton?"
"Shut up."
She heard him clamp his mouth shut. "What is she doing?" Captain Rogers whispered.
"No clue." Coulson murmured.
Something pulled in her gut. Her eyes flashed open, tinged in gold. She turned around just as Agent Sitwell spun around from his computer. "Got a match!"
Knew it, she told herself.
Sitwell said the match was a sixty-seven percent and a seventy-nine for weight and cross-matching. She walked over to his space and peered down at his computer. "That's him." She looked back at Fury.
Coulson asked where the hit had come from. "Stuttgart, in Germany. 28 Konigstrasse. Right out in the open." Sitwell told him.
Fury nodded. "Wheaton, Rogers. Suit up."
Rosalie clapped Sitwell on the shoulder. "Good work." She muttered. She breezed past Coulson, looking over at Captain Rogers. "Hope you're ready for a fight, Captain. He won't go down easy."
They were in her quinjet. Well, it was technically S.H.I.E.L.D.'s quinjet, but it was her favorite.
"How long have you worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Captain Rogers asked her. He was sitting next to her, his leg bouncing. The famous Captain America shield was next to him.
"A few years." She replied. He asked what she was bringing to the table. Specifically, what made her good enough to be on the team. A funny smile found itself on her face. "You'll see."
Her ear piece crackled. "Go time, you two. Time to quit the flirting." Nat's voice teased.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Captain Rogers's cheeks turn a rosy pink. He stood up, strapping his shield to his arm. "See you down there." He told her.
She stood up, fake-saluting him. "Aye-aye, Captain."
He pulled the door open and took a deep breath. She watched him jump from the jet. The familiar feeling had settled in her stomach. It was about to go down. She waited a few seconds before jumping out of the jet.
Cool air blasted against her. It burned against her face. The ground was coming up quick. She landed on her feet, stray pebbles crunching under her boots. A blast of blue shot past her and she ducked.
She jumped to her feet. Something flew past her and she heard the clang of metal against concrete. She looked over. There was a large crowd of people huddled together. She saw the shield discarded on the ground. Loki was standing over Captain Rogers, the scepter pointed at his head.
She sighed, unsheathing her sword and holding it at her side. "Loki. Stand down." She called.
His head turned half an inch, so that he was looking back at her, but his attention wasn't completely away from Captain Rogers. "Little sister." He half-smiled. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Sister?" Rogers repeated. He flipped up, knocking Loki away with his leg. Loki grabbed him and then flipped him back on the ground.
"Your taste in company is still poor, I see." Loki told her.
"Still trying to take over the world, I see." She retorted.
Music blared overhead. Her head shot up to the sky. She didn't recognize the song. "Miss me, Agent Romanoff? Agent Wheaton, you're looking fantastic." The voice was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.
A blur of red and gold flew over and landed in front of her. She huffed a laugh. The one and only Tony Stark. His hand extended and something shot out and knocked Loki to the ground. Several pieces of weaponry extended from the Iron Man suit, all aimed at Loki.
"Your move, Reindeer Games." Tony said. Loki was half-lying half-sitting on the ground. He held his hands up in surrender and his armor disappeared. "Right call."
Captain Rogers stood up. "Mr. Stark." He nodded cordially.
Tony greeted him. "Agent Wheaton."
"I was beginning to wonder when you would show up." She said, sliding the sword back in the sheath. "And then I remembered your penchant for grand entrances." She strutted over to Loki, pulling him to his feet. She held his hands in front of him and snapped a cuff over both his wrists. She stared back at Tony and Steve. "Are the two of you going to help or just stand around like idiots?"
Loki grinned. "Feisty as ever, little sister."
"Keep your mouth shut." She snarled. "You've got some explaining to do." She jerked him forward as she began to walk away. "One of you get the scepter." She pressed a finger against her ear com. "Nat, touch down."
She kept Loki next to her on the quinjet. Steve and Tony were both eyeing her. "Are we just…not going to talk about it?" Tony asked.
She arched an eyebrow. "About what? Your late addition to the team. Tardiness comes with a penalty, Stark." Outside, thunder boomed.
He rolled his eyes. "The whole brother-sister thing. You know him?"
She got up from the seat. Giving Loki a warning glare, she went to stand next to them. "I'm not from around here." She told them. Steve was staring back at her with a wary look in his eyes. "Don't worry, Cap, I'm team Earth all the way. Loki and I aren't on the best of terms, not since he tried to destroy an entire race of people."
Steve sighed. "You said he wouldn't make it easy. That didn't seem so difficult to me." He reminded her. "But he does pack quite the punch."
She glanced back at Loki. He was staring back at her, blue eyes bright. Tony mentioned that Steve was in good shape for an elderly guy. He asked what he did to keep his body looking good.
Rose mumbled that she was going to go up and check in with Nat on their arrival time. Nat was talking with Fury on the intercom. "How're we looking?" She asked, leaning over Nat's seat.
"A few more hours if this storm lets up. If the lightning gets worse, we may have to touch down for the night." Nat reported. She didn't think they could afford to wait until morning. They needed to get Loki back to the Helicarrier and find out where the Tesseract was. Where Dr. Selvig and Clint were.
The quinjet shook as lightning struck. Nat gripped onto the controls and kept the jet from turning too abruptly. Rose grabbed onto the back of her chair to steady herself. Her stomach flipped just as a deafening noise ripped through the jet.
"What the hell?" She told Nat she was going to check back in with the guys. She raced to the back of the jet. The ramp door had been ripped open and Loki was gone. Her eyes widened as she looked at Steve and Tony. "Where is he?" She growled.
"Some guy in a cape came in, grabbed him, and flew out." Steve told her.
Guy in a cape?
"Could it be another Asgardian?" Nat asked over the coms. Steve asked if he was friendly.
Rose clenched her fists at her sides. "I've got this one." She told them. She took out her sword, holding it level to her chest. Her clothes shifted, the dark navy suit materializing into a grey and red battle suit, silver armor fastened over it. The cape flowed in the wind.
"Agent-." Steve started.
She didn't give him time to finish his sentence before jumping out of the quinjet. She could barely see in the dark, but somehow her sword knew exactly where to go. She landed on the side of a mountain ledge. Thor and Loki were in front of her. Loki was half on the ground, looking up at Thor.
"Where's the Tesseract, Loki?" Thor boomed. Loki chuckled, saying that he had missed him. "I am not playing, brother!"
"Clearly." Rosalie announced herself.
Thor spun around, knocking part of the mountain off with Mjolnir. "Nola?"
She half-waved, walking forward. "The Tesseract isn't on him. And next time, ask before stealing our brother."
They both looked at Loki, who seemed pleasantly amused with his current situation. She asked what was funny. "You both should be praising me, washing me over in thanks. How much dark energy did the Allfather utilize in order to send you here?" He asked Thor. "All to save your sweet Midgard."
Thor dropped his hammer and the ground shook. Before she could stop him, he lunged forward and picked Loki up. He slammed Loki into the side of the mountain. "We all thought you were dead!" Rose sheathed the sword and crossed her arms over her chest. Loki asked if they had mourned his death. "Everyone." Thor told him. "Father-."
"Your father." Loki corrected. Thor let him go and Loki walked away from him. "You are aware of my true parentage, aren't you? The stolen child, the bastard babe of war. Nothing compared to Odin's precious prince and princess, the true heirs to his throne."
Her arms fell to her sides. She scoffed, shaking her head. "Loki, please. We grew up together." Thor reminded him. "We were all raised as siblings. We have fought by each other's sides."
Loki's mouth formed a snarl. "Do you know what I remember? I remember growing up in the shadow of the two of you. I remember, brother, how it felt when you tossed me into a black abyss and never looked back. You were groomed to be king, but it should have been me!" Thor said he had gone mad. He couldn't use Midgard as a gambling piece, a way to get his revenge. Thor was the protector of Earth. "I mean them no harm. I only wish to rule them."
"Ruling would not suit you, brother." Thor said. "You have missed the true nature of being a ruler."
Loki shoulder-shoved him as he walked past him. He glared at her as he walked to the ledge of the mountain side. "The two of you are ignorant beyond imagination. I have seen things you could never dream of. In my time gone, I have found the furthest potential of the Tesseract and I mean to use it." Thor demanded to know who was calling the shots behind Loki. Loki said that he was in control, he was the king. Thor ordered him to come back to Asgard immediately.
Her jaw flinched. "Enough." She decided. Loki stared back at her. "I've grown tired of listening to you two bickering like children. And I am so sick of your woe is me bullshit, Loki." She snapped at him. "You're going to hand over the Tesseract and then go back to Asgard and serve your punishing time. Tell me where you've hidden it."
"I know not where the Tesseract is."
Her eyes glinted gold. She ripped Thor away from Loki, not bothering to see where he landed. She wrapped her hand around Loki's throat. "I'm not messing around, Loki. I want the Tesseract. And I want you to undo the mind control you've placed over everyone."
"You mean, your friends. The doctor and the archer."
She tightened her hold on his throat. "People died, Loki. Your games are over." A gust of wind rushed by. She turned her head in time to see Iron Man fly by and knock into Thor, sending him flying off the mountain. She sighed, releasing Loki. "Stay put. If you go anywhere, I will make you regret it."
"I have no doubt."
She took out her sword and jumped off the mountain ledge. Her feet landed soundly on the ground, cracking the earth on impact. Thor was picking himself up and Tony was standing a few feet away, the Iron Man mask gone to reveal his face.
"Honestly, boys, between you two and Loki, I'm never going to get a vacation."
"Sister, do you know this metal man?" Thor shouted at her.
Tony stared back at her with wide eyes. "How many brothers do you have, Wheaton?" She said only the two. "Did you tell him that Reindeer Games is our prisoner?"
She said yes. "Loki is our brother, and therefore he is the prisoner of Asgard." Thor told Tony. "I will take him back to Asgard and he will face justice there."
Tony's gaze flitted between the two of them. "Once he gives up the Tesseract, he can go wherever the hell you want to take him." Tony told Thor. "Keep out of our way until then."
His face mask covered his face again and he turned to walk away. She let out a breath and turned to explain to Thor what Tony meant. Mjolnir was in his grip. She opened her mouth to speak and he tossed the hammer through the air. The war hammer flew through the air and knocked into Tony, sending him through a tree.
She heard laughter and looked up. Loki was standing on the edge of the ledge, watching them with a smile. Thor called Mjolnir back. Tony shot at him with a blast of energy that put Thor on his ass. He flew forward and threw Thor into a close by tree. Thor pulled himself to his knees. He lifted Mjolnir into the air. A bolt of lightning struck down and hit the hammer. He pointed the hammer to Tony and the lightning redirected, hitting Tony in the chest.
It only worsened the fight. The two of them went at each other, grappling and fighting in the air. She watched them with a bored expression. Thor liked a fight and Tony had a little too big an ego.
"You just gonna stand there or do something?" A new voice said from behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder. Steve was standing behind her, shield at the ready. "By all means." She extended her arm forward.
He shook his head, running forward. He leapt onto a fallen tree. He threw his shield through the air and it hit both Tony and Thor before going back to him. "I think that's enough, fellas." He looked right at Thor. "Son, what's your plan here?" Thor said he came to stop Loki's plans. "Great. Put the hammer down and we can talk."
"Not a good call!" Tony shouted. "Dude loves the hammer!"
Thor smacked Tony across the face, sending him flying. "Put the hammer down?" He asked. He jumped into the air and went for Steve. He brought the hammer down as Steve put the shield up to block the hit.
A shockwave went through the air, knocking her to the ground. She sat up, looking across the clearing. Steve and Tony were lying next to each other, Thor standing close to her. She got to her feet, brushing the dirt off her suit. "You're coming with us." She told Thor.
"But-."
"Don't." She held up a hand. "We're taking Loki in and you can have him once he gives up the Tesseract. This is non-negotiable, do you understand?" Begrudgingly, Thor picked up his hammer. He slung it over his shoulder. She motioned for him to get Loki. "Now that your pissing contest is over, maybe we can get something done."