A/N: Hey guys, two more chapters for you today. This is hard, only updating at certain times. I just want the whole thing on here haha
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Disney, ABC, or the Avengers. Just Sera.
Steve's POV:
It was quiet for a couple seconds before Fury held up cards instantly recognized as Coulson's Captain America trading cards. "These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. I guess he never did get you to sign them."
The bloodstained cards were thrown across the table, and I picked one of them up and staring at it closely. "We're dead in the air up here," Fury continued. "Our communications, the location of the cube. Banner, Thor… I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming."
"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier."
There was a brief pause, before Fury continued. "There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them too, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes."
Tony quickly stood up and left the bridge. "Well," Fury broke the silence. "It's an old-fashioned notion." At which point, I sighed and followed Tony's lead, went to leave the bridge.
"Captain," Fury said, gaining my attention.
"There's something I didn't want to tell Stark quite yet." He said, approaching me.
"Loki didn't just take Coulson's life. He took Sera Stark." He said, to which my blood ran cold.
Natasha's POV:
Fury had used a direct line to tell me the news. I was livid, and scared for Sera, but my duty was with Clint now. He needed to get better before we could rescue her.
"Clint, you're gonna be alright," I said, watching him shake his head.
"You know that?" He laughed, clearly not himself, "Is that what you know?" The next second he was back, leaning back on the exam table, and staring at the ceiling.
"I've got...I've got no window. I gotta flush him out." He panted.
"It's gonna take time, you've gotta level out," I said getting a drink for him.
"You don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and stuff something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?"
"You know that I do." I said looking directly at him. He knew that I meant the Red Room.
"Why am I back? How did you get him out?"
"Cognitive recalibration. I hit you really hard on the head." I said sitting down next to him.
"Thanks." he said looking more than grateful. I looked up and smiled at him.
"Natasha, how many agents-"
"Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for." I told him, but it didn't seem to make any difference, so he changed the subject.
"Loki, he get away?" he said looking like he would kill whoever got in his way of killing him.
"Yeah. I don't suppose you know where?"
"I didn't need to know. I didn't ask." I walked towards the window I was looking out of earlier. He continued "He's gonna make his play soon though. Today."
"We've gotta stop him." I turned back to face him.
"Yeah? Who's we?"
"I don't know. Whoever's left."
"Well, if I put an arrow in Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better I suppose."
"Now you sound like you." I sat down next to him and he turned his head to face me.
"But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why?" he asked looking at me questioningly, "What did Loki do to you?"
"He didn't. I just..." I said, trying to focus on the thought of getting Sera back.
"Natasha." He said and I looked up at the wall opposite.
"I've been compromised. I've got red in my ledger." I said, to which he turned to look at me. He turned to look at me. "I'd like to wipe it out."
"Where's Little Sister?" He asked, suddenly. Taking a breath, I said, "You're not going to like it. In fact, I hate it."
"What?" He asked, wondering angrily.
"Sera's been taken hostage." I whispered, to which he threw his glass across the room in rage. I knew he loved her like a sibling, and I let him have his bout of anger.
"Clint, we will get her back." I said, noting the emotion that was in my voice. He looked at me, tears evident in his eyes and said, "I'm going to kill him."
Steve's POV:
"Was he married?" I asked, leaning against a railing.
"No. There was a cellist, I think." Tony said, unsure and shaken.
"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." I said, nodding.
"He was an idiot," Tony declared.
"Why?" Steve asked. "For believing?"
"For taking on Loki alone," Tony explained, walking towards me. I knew now wasn't the time to tell him, not until he had a clear head.
"He was doing his job," Steve told him.
Tony scoffed. "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have-"
"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony," I said, moving closer.
"Right! How did that work for him?" Tony said walking past me.
"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" I asked, turning as Tony's back was to him.
Tony quickly turned to face me. "We are not soldiers," he expressed, "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."
"Neither am I," I assured him, "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does, but right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done. Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list-"
"He made it personal," Tony suddenly declared.
"That's not the point," I said, wondering where this was coming from.
"That is the point. That's Loki's point," Tony explained. "He hit us all right where we live. Why?"
"To tear us apart," Steve answered, confused as to where Tony was going with this.
"Yeah, divide and conquer us, but he know he has to take us out to win, right?"
"He wants to beat us," Tony continued. "He wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."
"Right," Steve agreed. "I caught his act in Stuttgart."
"That's just the previews," Tony explained, everything formulating in his head. "This is… this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, and he wants a monument built to the sky with his name plastered-"
"Son of a bitch," Tony let out, moving to leave the detention level.
"Wait," I said, making him stop.
"We have no time to wait Rogers." He said stopping in exasperation.
"Tony, he took a hostage." I said, looking down. I was ashamed of myself for the way I had acted towards her, but I was feeling things for Sera that I had never felt before, even with Peggy. And I really wanted the chance to prove myself to her.
"Who could he take that would-" Tony trailed off as I lifted my head. His lip began to quiver, and his eyes filled with water.
"He took my daughter." He stated, rather than asked. I nodded, to which two tears fell simultaneously down his cheeks.
"We'll talk about the obvious tension between the two of you later. Right now, I need to go kill a God." He said before storming out of the room. Sighing, I knew that this was going to be messy.
Sera's POV:
Waking up I realized I wasn't tied to a chair, or gagged, but lying on a couch. I looked out the window to my left and realized I was in my Dad's penthouse in New York.
"Son of a bitch," I whispered as I held my pounding head.
"Oh good, you're awake." A voice said, to which I shot up instantly. Taking a defensive stance, I noticed he was sitting in a large armchair.
"Oh boy, you are gonna wish you hadn't taken me," I said, a grave tone to my voice.
"And why is that? Because your father will come to fight for your freedom? The man you call father abandoned you, and your mother."
"He was needed elsewhere. Without him in my life, I became who I was supposed to be." I said, circling him.
"And yet you still craved his love. You wanted him your whole life, and pushed him away when he finally arrived. You crave the power you have over men. You bend their will, make them think they have you, when in truth, you have their lives in your hand." He said, an evil smirk upon his smug face.
"That's why they call me the Siren," I said, playing with my emerald.
"You believe you were abandoned as well," I said using my powers of persuasion on his mind. Or at least attempting to.
"I was lied to. The man I believe to be my father stole me." He said, a snarl on his lips.
"Or was it that you hated the fact you're real father didn't love you enough to come find you." I said, raising a manicured eyebrow. He shook with rage, but stopped, laughing quietly.
"You're mortal persuasion will not work on me." He said, standing, towering over me. I stared him down, not afraid of whatever he thought he could do to me.
"This game we are playing, I will win. Because I have nothing to lose," I smirked.
"Miss Stark, your father is approaching." JARVIS said, to which I smiled.
"I'd best go greet my guest," Loki said, leaving the room. I snarled as I realized he took my katana's. I was happy that I had managed to hide some knifes in my Dad's penthouse though. Grabbing the throwing knives under the couch, I pulled one of my swords from a large vase. I saw my father landing, as Loki moved to come back in, so I put the sword in a safe discreet place until I needed it.
"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki said, smirking. I wished I could smack him so hard his face would melt off.
"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you." Dad said, with confidence.
"You should have left your armor on for that," Loki said, a swagger to his gait.
"Yeah. It's seen a bit of mileage, and you've got the glow stick of destiny." He said, making Loki smug.
"You okay sweetheart?" He asked me, sighing in relief I was here.
"I'm fine Dad." I said, smiling.
"Would you like a drink?" He asked Loki, confusing me.
"Stalling me won't change anything," Loki responded.
"No no, threatening. No drink, you sure? I'm having one," He said, grabbing a tumbler of scotch. Rolling my eyes, I saw Loki move.
"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?" Loki asked rhetorically.
"The Avengers." My Dad said, sounding like he wasn't buying it himself.
"It's what we call ourselves. Like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes, that type of thing."
"Yes, I've met them." Loki said, laughter playing in his tone.
"Yeah. It takes us awhile to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a headcount here. Your brother, the demigod. A Super soldier, a living legend, who kinda lives up to the legend," to which I rolled my eyes. He was either making a jest at Steve's actual age or actually being nice.
"A man with breathtaking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, my amazing daughter over there, and you, big fella," My Dad said, pausing as he kept his voice controlled over the anger I saw beneath the surface.
"You've managed to piss off every single one of them." Dad said as I realized he was stalling to put on the bracelets I designed for the Mach 7.
"That was the plan," Loki smirked.
"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will come, they'll come for you."
"I have an army," He taunted.
"We have a Hulk," My Dad countered.
"I thought the beast had wandered off."
"You're missing the point, there's no throne, no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't save the earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."
"How will your friends have time for me, when they'll be too busy fighting you?" Loki said as he raised his scepter to my Dad's chest. I watched horrified until I heard the 'clink' against the reactor in my father's chest.
"Oh thank god," I sighed, grabbing my throwing knifes.
"This usually works," Loki said, confused.
"Performance issues, not uncommon. 1 out of 5-" My Dad said as Loki gripped his throat in one hand.
"Jarvis, any time now," My Dad said after Loki had tossed him, only to grab him again.
"You will all fall before me," Loki ground out.
"Deploy!" He yelled before, to my horror Loki threw him out a window. The Mach 7 followed quickly after him, but I knew it could prove useless.
"NO!" I yelled, chucking one of my knives at the back of Loki's head. To my luck it stuck in, only enough to wound though. I wished that it actually killed him as he turned to me. A distant sound of thrusters got closer and I sighed in relief as Loki turned to face my father.
"And there's another person you pissed off. His name was Phil." He said raising his arm to shoot Loki, who had also raised his scepter. Shooting Loki down, I moved to grab my sword, stabbing the fallen god in the gut. I heard a sickening sound and knew that the portal was opening.
"You made a grave mistake coming to this planet." I said, digging my knives into his face.
"I hope that scars, so you'll have a reminder." I said, moving toward the elevator. Spotting my real katana's I re-strapped them to my back and quickly moved to the balcony.
"I need to get down there," I said, noticing crowd that was slowly panicking on the streets below.
A/N: One more for today and then I'll wait till next Saturday :)
