Chapter 9

Mark

Mark threw Steve across the training room. Steve had been working on his fighting style and improved, but Mark always remained one step ahead of him. Steve flipped back upright and ran at Mark attempted two jabs. Mark blocked the jabs and went in for a punch. Steve blocked the punch and grabbed Mark's arm. Steve attempted to flip Mark over his shoulder, but Mark landed on his feet behind Steve and Mark swept Steve's feet from under him and slammed Steve down.

"I think you lost this one," Mark said with a smile. Steve smiled back. Steve was catching his breath while lying on the ground. "I am getting better, admit it. I couldn't grab you before."

"Well not while fighting, but you grabbed me during other moments," Mark said offering his hand to help Steve up. Steve turned red and took Mark's hand. Mark rubbed Steve's back. "I wasn't too rough on you, was I?" Mark asked.

"Well other times I grabbed you, you have been rougher," Steve said. Mark gave a shocked face, "Are you being cheeky with sexual comments."

"Well you started it," Steve said with a smile. Mark poked Steve in the side. "Well, I did. It's nice to see you not be worried about those things anymore. Ready for the last round?" Mark asked. Steve nodded. Mark didn't wait for Steve to prepare himself. Mark launched into a punch; Steve blocked it at the last second, but it caused him to slide back a few feet.

"I wasn't ready," Steve said with anger in his eyes.

"A villain isn't going to wait for you to be prepared. You need to prepare for anything. You can predict some moves from me now and react faster, but you need to keep that up," Mark said as he launched himself forward at Steve. Steve threw two punches instead of blocking. Mark ducked from the punches and hit Steve in the chest. Steve took the hit and grabbed Mark's arm holding it, and then swung his fist to hit Mark. Mark grabbed Steve's punch and lifted Steve up. Steve was thrown to the side where he landed on his feet. Steve quickly turned around and ran to attack, and Mark jumped back to dodge. Steve turned to kick, Mark ducked dodging the kick. Mark jumped back and was against the wall. Steve went in for a double jab combo, Mark quickly sidestepped and as Steve turned around Mark grabbed Steve's wrists. Steve felt his back to the wall and Mark holding Steve's fists above his head. Mark leaned in close as Steve breathed heavily to catch his breath.

"You did well that round," Mark said to Steve.

"Do I get a reward?" Steve asked leaning forward; Mark leaned his head back. Steve let out a sigh of disappointment when Mark leaned back. Mark laughed and leaned forward and kissed Steve deeply. Mark pushed Steve's hands up higher as they kissed and Steve let out a moan during the kiss.

"Avengers," Tony said over the sound system, "Thor arrived, and we will be meeting soon to find out what he found in Asgard. See you in about thirty minutes."

"He knows how to ruin the mood," Mark said to Steve. Mark let go of Steve's hands, but Steve grabbed Mark and pulled him into another kiss. "I still get my reward though, right?" Steve asked with a smile when he pulled away from the kiss.

Mark laughed. "What do you want as your reward?"

Steve hugged Mark and rested his head on Mark's shoulder. "The evening and night with you, just the two of us. I loved the day we spent together yesterday. I want to have another day like that with you."

Mark squeezed Steve. Mark could promise Steve another day like that, just not tonight. "Okay. We will have another day like that. Where do you want to go?"

Steve looked up into Mark's eyes. "I want the day to be just us. I am not sure what I want to do."

Mark smiled, "I will figure something out." Mark grabbed Steve by the hand and led him to the door. "We need to found out what Thor found out from Asgard before our date, and we need to clean up before we meet the others."

"You mean I do," Steve said drenched in sweat. "You didn't even break a sweat during that."

"Then you get cleaned up. I am going to change," Mark said as both of them walked. Mark went down the stairs and turned down the hallway. Steve followed. Mark opened the door to Steve's room. Steve went to the dresser to get some clean clothes. Mark grabbed a towel for Steve and handed it to him. Steve grabbed the towel, "Thanks." Steve stood there awkwardly, and Mark smiled at him. Mark kissed Steve and lifted Steve's shirt off of him. Then Mark pulled Steve's pants down leaving him only in socks and underwear. "There, you undressed in front of me. You don't need to be worried about it anymore," Mark said. Steve leaned in and kissed Mark. "I wasn't worried about it. I was hoping you would help," Steve said in between breaths of the kiss.

"Go shower," Mark said. And Steve walked passed Mark to the bathroom. Mark picked up Steve's dirty clothes from the floor and felt something hit his back. Mark looked to see Steve's underwear on the floor. "See I am not that modest," Steve said. Mark picked up the underwear and put it in the hamper with the rest of the clothes. "You are going to be late if you keep flirting," Mark said. Steve closed the door, and Mark heard the shower turn on. This was his chance.

Mark walked out of the room and into his room. Mark looked under the bed and pulled out his backpack. Mark packed it full of everything he would need for his trip to Asgard. Mark put the bag over his shoulder and went to the window. Mark opened it and looked outside to make sure no one was around.

"I will only be gone a week max. They will all be okay without me," Mark said preparing to jump from the window. He paused. He slowly put the backpack down. "I can't leave him with nothing," Mark said. Mark walked back to Steve's room. The shower was still running. Mark looked around quickly for anything. "I have a minute to find something to leave a message." Mark opened the nightstand and found a folded piece of paper. He opened it and realized it was the note he left for Steve in the present. Mark paused looking at it. Mark put it back. He couldn't leave Steve just a note. Mark walked to the door to the bathroom. Mark knocked.

"Yes?" Steve asked.

"Hey Steve, I am about to do something incredibly crazy again. Just letting you know," Mark said through the door.

"Yeah?" Steve replied not fully believing the words.

"Yeah, I will be gone for a few days. I just wanted you to remember something. You are the person who brightened my life. I will be back," Mark said, and he walked out of the room. Mark could hear the shower turn off, and he quickly grabbed the backpack and jumped from the window. Mark threw a dagger up to cling to a tree with a chain flowing from it to swing from the tree. Mark hit the ground and began running. Mark made it to the park and looked around.

"You kept your word," Mark heard from behind and saw Loki walking toward him.

"Of course I kept my word. Thor is at the Avenger Mansion. We need to leave now," Mark said.

Loki walked up to Mark. "You couldn't leave without saying something to your human."

"Shut up," Mark glared at Loki. "You said we are traveling through the Bifrost. How do I do that?"

"I will open it. Hang on, it is known to cause some side effect during travel," Loki said.

"Side effects?" Mark questioned.

"Motion sickness mainly," Loki said as he began to channel his power for the Bifrost.

Mark felt his phone still in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it. It was a message from Steve. Mark opened it quickly and read it.

"You are doing something stupid, aren't you? I can't believe you would do something like this!" read the message.

Mark thought for a moment and decided to reply while he could.

"I am doing it for us." Mark wrote back to Steve and sent the message. Mark saw a blue glow in front of him.

"The Bifrost is open. Ready to travel to Asgard?" Loki asked.

Mark looked into the blue light. He couldn't see what lied beyond the blue glow. He turned to Loki, "No backing out now. Let's go." Loki led the way, and Mark followed.

Mark couldn't describe how it felt to travel the Bifrost. It felt like he moved so fast that the rest of his body slowly caught up to his location. Mark leaned over and threw up when he arrived in Asgard. Loki was right, motion sickness was a side effect, and Mark felt the full effects of the travel. Loki quickly grabbed Mark and ran into the forest. Mark didn't have time to react when Loki did this, he only followed.

"Why are we running?" Mark asked.

"Guards will know the Bifrost is active and come seeing who used it. We need to be away from this area when they arrive," Loki said leading the way.

Mark shook Loki's grip on his arm and followed Loki. Mark looked around and saw the structures of the city as he ran through the woods. "So that is Asgard," Mark said.

"Yes, the home which banished its rightful heir. I cannot show you around the city sadly. We will need to make our way to Midgard and then to the Highlands," Loki explained.

Mark didn't question Loki. Mark wanted to be done with Asgard as soon as possible. He wanted to get back to Steve, who would be angry with him for pulling this stunt. Mark just ran following Loki, not thinking about how angry Steve was going to be with him.

Mark saw Loki slowing down. They must have run for about an hour. Loki opened his nap sack and pulled out a map. He looked at it and began walking west. Mark figured it was west from the setting sun and assuming the planet had the same properties as Earth.

"Are we far from the temple?" Mark asked.

"We are now in Midgard. It will take a day to get to the Highlands. From there, we will need to be careful about the warriors guarding the holy grounds. I will need your strength to fight them off. It should be a few days before we reach the temple," Loki said leading the way.

"And Steve will kill me when I get back," Mark said.

"Worry not about your human for now. We are on our journey to the Temple of Huginn and Muninn."

Mark walked faster to catch up to Loki. "We are going to the temple dedicated to Odin's ravens?" Mark asked.

"You know of my father's pets. Yes, the ravens gather information for my father. Huginn of thought and Muninn of memory and the mind. There should hold the information you seek and the relic to help you," Loki said.

"Of course, I caught up on my Norse mythology before traveling here to Asgard. I didn't want to go to Asgard completely lacking any knowledge of this world." Mark kept pace with Loki, "And I would appreciate you not refer to Steve as my human. He is the reason I would even consider doing something like this with you."

"I do not know why you get angry with my words. He is your human. You are a god to your homeland. He should be your pet," Loki began, and he looked over at Mark, who had the dark aura growing around him. Mark's eyes went black and yellow, and the blue markings showed on his body.

"You can calm down unless you don't wish to find the temple. You will need me for this journey," Loki said. Mark grabbed Loki by the throat and lifted him up.

"I may need you to find the temple, but know I could kill you once I find it. I could let the warriors kill you. Don't disrespect Steve again or anyone I care about if you value your head being attached to your body," Mark said. Mark dropped Loki and walked in the direction Loki pointed out before. Mark's aura, eyes, and body returned to normal after he dropped Loki. After walking for a bit, Mark looked over his shoulder and saw Loki still on the ground scared. "Come on, we have to find the temple quickly."

Loki slowly stood up, and Mark let Loki walk passed him. Mark would want to keep an eye on Loki for the entire journey. He could not trust the God of trickery and chaos in any situation.

"I apologize for angering you," Loki said.

"Get me to the temple," Mark said. Loki nodded his head and led the way. Mark knew Loki would not try anything for a while since he saw what Mark's power can do and feared it. Mark could use this fear to keep Loki in line. Loki didn't know that Mark was scared as well. Mark was scared how Steve would react to this whole plan of his. Right now, Mark thought of how worried Steve would be wondering where he was. Steve would be trying to figure out where Mark is right now. Mark continued walking, in a day, he would be in the Highlands. Mark saw Loki stop in his tracks and turn toward the direction they came from. Mark turned back as well but could not sense anyone near them.

"What is it?" Mark asked Loki.

"The Bifrost is active again. Seems someone is traveling to Asgard," Loki explained.

"Thor?" Mark asked.

"Yes," Loki began, "But he is not alone. I sense three others coming through the Bifrost with him."

"Three?" Mark looked back wondering who it could be. He could guess who it was coming through the Bifrost with Thor, but Mark didn't want to think they arrived. "We need to get to the Highlands quickly. We now have a time limit on this mission."

"A time limit?" Loki asked as he began to walk.

"Yeah it won't be long until Thor, and the other Avengers find us. We need to pick up the pace," Mark began to walk faster, and he looked over his shoulder. "He must be pissed if he came all the way here to find me."