Chapter 2

Everything kicked into motion right then. Loki shot Tesseract energy at Natasha, and she flew to the left to avoid the shot. Steve threw his shield at the Asgardian and ran up to him. Instantly people were scrambling to get away, and I was helping to hurry them up. No telling how ugly this was gonna get.

"Come on, run!" I urged, waving my free hand to get people moving faster.

'Don't worry about them, Seeker! You need to neutralize Loki!' Natasha ordered in my mind. I gave her a thumbs up and turned to find Loki with his staff on Steve's head. Holding out my left hand, I thought a simple word; Stop.

I was immensely surprised when I heard Loki let out a laugh.

"My dear girl, no matter how powerful you are, that power has no effect over me." he said in a falsely smooth voice. I glared at him, aiming the arm-cannon at him. 'This will.' I thought to him, and fired a single shot. It sent him flying backwards several feet, but uninjured. He stood up, just as prepared to fight me as he was the Captain, just as Guns 'n Roses started blaring out of the PA of Natasha's...thing. I wasn't sure what to call it.

"Of course..." I said under my breath as I saw Tony in the sky, flying our way. I prepared a second shot in my cannon and sent it towards Loki just as Tony did the same with his thrusters. The combined force knocked him down, and he stayed down. Smart move.

"Make your move, reindeer games." Tony taunted as Steve came back with his shield. The horned helmet and armor disappeared from the demigod, leaving him in less armorlike leather robes. He held his hands up in surrender. Tony and I retracted our weapons. "Good move."

"..Mr. Stark." Steve greeted, not moving his eyes away from Loki.

"Captain." Stark greeted in return.

'Is he saying anything?'

"Not a word."

'Just get him here. We're low on time.'

I was in the back with Loki, while Natasha, her copilot, Steve and Tony were up at the front. I was comfortable with the silence, and had to resist on more than one occasion to enter Loki's mind to see what was in there, what worlds. I'd been to another universe, once, but I'd never gotten the chance to go to Cybertron, let alone any other worlds. I wondered if Star, Hunter and Skye ever would...

'Hey Tony, is it bad that I want to tell Loki that my kids and I are fans of him?' I thought towards him. He let out a laugh as he looked at me, and Steve shot him a funny look. He just tapped his temple with two fingers.

"...I don't like it." he suddenly said.

"What, the Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony asked, keeping his voice low.

"I don't remember it ever being that easy." Steve explained. "This guy packs a wallop."

"Well, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing, pilates?"

I stood up then, walking up to the two.

"Tony, quit trying to antagonize the captain, or else I'll make you believe you're a seven year old girl for the next three hours." I scolded and threatened. He raised an eyebrow at me, and I heard Loki let out a quiet laugh from behind me.

"You seem pretty full of empty threats. How many times did you threaten your baby-daddy like that?" Tony asked. That same stabbing pain I'd felt this morning in my heart came back, and I absently rubbed the spot where my heart was. I didn't say anything, just shook my head at him. Then I returned to my seat. The grief over losing my sparkmate had never let up. Sure, the painful attacks on my heart had become few and far between over the last ten years, but the pain itself hadn't lessened.

I couldn't imagine how bad it would be if Starscream had died, instead of just being trapped in another universe away. If this hurt, spark-fracture would have been a hundred times worse.

I was pulled from my thoughts by a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder. I jumped in surprise; none of this had been here just a few short minutes ago.

"Where's this coming from?" Natasha wondered aloud. I spread out my consciousness over the surrounding area and I felt it.

"We've got someone coming down on us from our six o'clock." I called. Another crack of lightning appeared, and I saw Loki flinch when the thunder rumbled moments after.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve asked.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki replied, looking to the ceiling uneasily. Then I remembered something, at the same time Tony did.

"Kora, you said Loki was the adoptive brother of who?"

"Thor, god of Th-" I was cut off as the plane -I guess it's a plane- shook as something landed on the roof, jolting me out of my seat. Tony had his Iron Man head on in a few seconds, and had opened the door to the plane.

"What are you doing?" Steve demanded. Before Tony could answer, someone landed on the ramp. Thor. I'd recognize him anywhere. As he strode in, Tony was about to fire a blast from his thrusters at him. Thor struck with his hammer, sending Tony flying back into Steve. I had my arm-cannon back out in a second and was standing between the demigods.

"What do you think you're doing?" I demanded. Thor didn't answer with more than a glare as he pushed me to the side, grabbing Loki by the neck. Just like that he was gone again.

"Eugh...now there's that guy.." Tony muttered, going to follow them.

"Another asgardian?" Natasha questioned.

"Yeah, that was Loki's brother. Something tells me they have brotherly issues, because his thoughts weren't friendly towards Loki." I called.

"Think he's a friendly?" Steve asked.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract is lost." Tony stated bluntly, approaching the exit. I was right beside him, and I had my own helmet on as well.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!"

"I have a plan; attack."

And with that we were both flying. Me with my own 'supermutant' powers, and Tony with his Iron-Man suit.

"You listen well, brother-" Whatever Thor had been about to say was cut off as Tony rammed into him, while I landed discreetly beside Loki.

"I'm listening." He said, pretending he didn't notice he was gone. When he noticed that I was still here he flinched away, putting a few feet between himself and my arm cannon.

"You, are going to stay right there and not move. I, am going to stop a genius man-child and a norse demigod from tearing up the forest." I ordered, before flying off to do exactly that.

I landed right beside Tony, whom Thor was glaring at. His gaze flitted to me, and I felt his surprise.

"Do not touch me again." he warned Tony.

"Then don't take my stuff." Tony said, as though it was the simplest thing to understand.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Uh, Shakespeare in the park?" Tony teased. "Doth mother know, you weareth her drapes?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"I know." I piped up, nudging Tony in the ribs (using my telekinesis). "Thor Odinson, son to Odin Allfather, and god of thunder. Seems like you were here not too long ago. Then there's your brother, Loki Laufeyson, adoptive brother to you as well as a Jotun Frost Giant in heritage, and the god of Mischief and Lies." I listed off. "And then finally, the Tesseract with everybody seems to want to fight over." I added as an afterthought.

"This is beyond the both of you, Metal Man, you and your woman." Alright, what? His woman? I think I liked Thor a little less. "Loki will face Asgardian justice."

"He gives up the cube, he's all yours." I said simply.

"Until then," Tony's mask slid down. "Stay out of the way." He turned to walk away, muttering 'Tourist' under his breath. I yelped in surprise when he was suddenly sent flying into a tree. What had thrown him? Mjolnir, Thor's hammer. Why hadn't I sensed it? Asgardian in nature or not, I sensed the matter around me. There was no reason why I shouldn't have felt that.

"Stop! Right now! We're on the same side, alright?" I yelled. Clearly I was ignored, as Tony shot at Thor and sent him into a tree. Not with the same force exerted from Mjolnir, but enough to leave a mark. Until he kicked him through the tree. It continued to escalate, and I continued to try and stop them. But with my lack of ability to use my telekinesis on Thor and my unwillingness to do it to Tony, it wasn't going well.

And then, after Thor and Tony flew up to a rock face and knocked a tree down, Steve finally showed up, and actually got them under control. For a moment or two, anyways.

"Hey!"

Both men stopped when the Captain's shield bounced off them.

"That's enough!... Now I don't know what you're planning on doing here-" Steve started.

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

"Then prove it. Put that hammer down." Steve said.

"Uh, bad call. He loves his-" Tony's antagonizing was cut off with him being hit by said hammer and flying back several dozen feet.

"You want me to put the hammer down?" Thor bellowed. He jumped into the air, hammer raised as he flew through the air towards Steve. Alright, this was just getting stupid, now. Summoning as much energy as I could, I yelled a single word, both mentally and out loud.

"ENOUGH!" Manipulating the air around me, I made a bubble of sorts around Thor moments before he would have hit the Captain's shield. "That, is more than enough. Are we done here?" I asked. I felt Thor's anger at his lack of ability to move, and I realized I'd found a loophole in the asgardians' apparent invulnerability to my abilities. "Any objections, boys? No? Good, let's get Loki and get back to the helicarrier, then."

"In case it's unclear, you try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass... thirty thousand feet, straight down, in a metal trap. You get how that works?" Fury asked Loki, gesturing to him. "Ant," then to the control panel. "Boot."

Loki let out a laugh. "It's an impressive cage. Though not built, I think, for me." he said.

"It's built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury agreed.

"Oh, I've heard." he commented, looking to the security camera. It seemed that, even through a monitor, he was looking right at Bruce. "The mindless beast. How desperate are you? You call on such lost creatures to defend you."

"How desperate am I?" Fury asked. "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 to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what?" A grin spread across his face as he looked back to the camera. I couldn't make out what he said next, as my head was beginning to throb painfully. I rubbed two fingers against the bridge of my nose, trying to ward it off.

"..Well let me know if 'Real Power' wants a magazine or something." I heard Fury say as he left Loki's cell.

"...He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce asked sarcastically. I sighed, putting my head in my hands.

"Loki's gonna drag this out...so, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asked.

"He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of asgard, nor any other realm. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth." he answered resignedly. I stood up from my chair.

"We can't let that happen." I stated firmly. The others looked to me. "I don't know about any of you, but I have children who live on this planet. I'm not letting them be hurt in any way, shape, or form. Especially not by some otherworldly army that thinks they can just take over the planet." I insisted.

"You don't mess with a woman protecting her kids." Bruce agreed. I raised an eyebrow at him, but let the discussion continue.

"An army... from outer space."

"So he's building another portal, then." Said Bruce. I wasn't sure if he was making a statement or asking. "That's what he needs Eric Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor repeated.

"He's an astrophysicist." Bruce explained, though I knew to Thor that wouldn't mean anything.

"He's a friend." he corrected.

"He has him under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours, Barton." Natasha added. That was why I hadn't seen the hawk-man around when I got here!

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

Then I got an idea, standing up again. "If you gave me a few minutes to talk to him, I could probably find that out." I thought aloud.

"No, it's too dangerous. Loki is known as Silvertongue for a reason. You, you who knows of our legends should know that." Thor disagreed. I turned to look at him.

"If he tries to put me under some sort of spell I can just stop him from talking, the same way I stopped you from moving." I snapped irritably.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. I think it's the staff we need to be worried about. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell the crazy on him." Bruce brought us back to the situation at hand. Thor instantly spoke up to defend his brother, and Natasha brought him back down.

"He killed eighty people in two days."

The sciency discussion continued, but I tuned it out. I could catch up later. Right now, I needed to check in on my kids. Diverting any attention from me, I walked a few yards away and pulled out my phone. I dialled the cellphone I'd given the three, hoping that they hadn't left it in one of their rooms on silent. It rang a total of two rings before there was an answer.

"Hi mom!"

It was Hunter that was the one to greet me.

"Hello, sweetie. How are you and your sisters?" I asked softly, keeping my voice down as I walked aimlessly.

"We're good. We were watching some Transformers after you left."

"Oh, fun." I said, smiling. "Which series?" I asked.

"Armada. We watched a few minutes of Threaten, but then...uh..."

My eyebrows pulled together, forming a frown as I heard voices in the background. Painfully familiar voices. I couldn't place them, though.

"What's going on, hon? Where are you?" I asked, becoming worried.

"The...uh...the Axalon."

I halted mid-step as that clicked in my brain. The Axalon was the autobot ship that took the Autobots, minicons and human kids to Cybertron. In Armada.

"Who are you talking to, Hunter? How are you talking to somebody? We're in space!" I heard a familiar voice speaking. Hot Shot. The pain in my heart returned, and I put a hand over it as tears pricked in my eyes.

"My mom. She and Silverstar made this phone so we can always call each other." Hunter answered. There was silence on both ends of the phone now.

"Hunter, baby, can you put me on speaker please?" I asked thickly.

"Sure thing, mom. There you go." Hunter said softly.

"H-Hey, guys." I greeted, knowing they could hear me. "Been...been awhile."

"Kora? Is that you?" I heard Hot Shot ask, shocked. I knew my voice must have sounded so much older, now.

"Yeah, Hot Shot. It's me." I answered, smiling a bit. "How've you been?"

"...Pretty good. We finished the Axalon, and we're headed to Cybertron."

"So I hear." Then I couldn't keep up the small talk anymore. "Is Starscream there?"

"...Yeah. Just let me get him, mom."

I waited in silence, resuming my walking, as tears dripped from my eyes.

"Dad, there's someone on the phone for you." I gasped as Hunter said this. They knew? They knew that Starscream was their father? How did they... Silverstar. I'd given her my old journal from when I was pregnant with them, telling her to give it to the three of them when she thought it was time they knew. I heard the achingly familiar noise of a holoform activating, before hearing a voice I never thought I'd hear again.

"Hello?"

Just hearing that one word opened the floodgates. I let out a single sob, putting my hand over my mouth. I let my tears flow freely now, glad that the hallway I was in was unoccupied.

"St-Star..." I gasped, my voice hitching. There was a shocked noise on the other end.

"Kora?" he whispered, his voice sounding like he dared not believe it was real.

"Yes. It's... it's me... I miss you, Star. I miss you so much." I sobbed quietly.

"Primus... I miss you too."

"How long has it been?" I asked him.

"Only two weeks."

The pain was still fresh for him... That made my heart ache even worse. Especially since I still had some fraction of him with me for those long years, the fraction that lived on in his children. Though, now they were with him and I was the one without. But I had a job to do, and so did they.

"It's been eleven years for me..." I said softly. "I never had anybody else... because you're the only one I could ever have, but you weren't there."

"Because your heart belongs to me, just as my spark is yours."

"Forever and always." I agreed, smiling again. "I love you, Starscream. Keep our kids safe, alright?"

"I love you too, Kora. I'll never let anything hurt them, I promise." he replied.

"I have to go, love. Off to save the world from aliens." I said, both apologetically and reluctantly.

"...Alright. We're a few days from Cybertron now. There's still a few things that need to be done in Optimus'... absence."

My blood ran cold once again. Absence? Hunter had said they were about to watch Threaten. Which meant... Optimus was gone. But how did they get the minicon weapons?

It was like he was reading my thoughts, even from another universe. "The Decepticons attacked the base again, and threatened the kids so we would give them the Star Sabre and Skyboom Shield. I had no choice, Kora. I'm sorry."

"I... I understand. I'll talk to you soon. I love you." I said again.

"I love you too.."

Then the call was ended. I stood where I was for several minutes, unmoving. For the first time in eleven years, I'd talked to my spark-partner. Eleven years...Only two weeks for him. I sighed, leaning against a wall as I wiped the last of my tears away. At least my kids would be safe, with him and the Autobots. But Optimus was dead... Damn it.

"Looks like I didn't change as much as I thought I did..." I muttered.

"Miss Evans, you should rest. Stark and Banner are looking into what they can on Loki's staff, and it's been a long day."

I turned to see Fury there. I wondered how long he'd been there, but didn't ask. I didn't like drawing attention to my personal matters.

"I need to talk to Thor. I need to convince him to let me speak with Loki." I disagreed. I turned to head back the way I came.

"Kora-"

"I have kids to protect, sir. If that means I have to risk my safety to talk with Loki to figure out what his plan is, then that's what I'm gonna do." I cut him off. It wasn't a lie. I didn't have as much to live for as I used to, but as long as I had them to protect, I wouldn't stop.

A/N: AASadjlfksdhgsldkvhnsklfjgbs... I'm sorry if this made anybody sad. I don't own avengers.