I'm super mad at myself because I have two other ideas for Avengers fics but I have like twenty other things I want to do and AEF'JKFA; I CAN'T HANDLE MY BRAIN.

Anyway, I have a lot of time today and none tomorrow, so I might as well post this :D

garnet86: Thank you! I'm glad you're curious!

LittleMissMia123: You. You need to be my friend. OMG I LOVED THAT REVIEW. IT HAS MADE MY LIFE.

Chapter Eight

Things were going better than Loki expected. He got out of the helicarrier with the tesseract and had managed to make himself known. Now all he had to do was wait. They'd find him soon enough. But what if they didn't? Loki didn't want to wait around the abandoned warehouses of New York forever. He wanted Gwen to come to him. She had a power beyond the tesseract and with the cube, she would be incredibly useful. But how was she to come to him if he didn't give SHIELD a little push?

But then again, he was pretty sure that the agency wouldn't let Gwen go out into battle, if that was what Loki chose to do. But then again, Gwen would certainly be very upset at the fact the villain of this new war had actually been with her for the past several months. Who wouldn't be? And who wouldn't want revenge or some sort of satisfaction of hitting him in the face?

Unfortunately, Loki could already see a problem.

That super soldier.

Even the god of mischief and lies could see how the soldier looked at Gwen. But he could use this to his advantage as well, but first he needed Gwen. Which meant that if Gwen did go to battle, the soldier would be with her. And Loki would have to separate them.

After thinking about it, Loki came up with his plan. He wasn't going to hide. He had never planned to anyway. But why not have the first battle of this new war be where the last one ended? Right in New York itself didn't sound too bad. The helicarrier wasn't too far away. Surely those Avengers would come to him. Maybe Gwen might even lose it and cause New York to become ruins. Not that it'd be a loss though. Gwen would be okay and all the Avengers would be dead. Just like that.

Loki smiled at the idea, but it faded when he suddenly realized that the real Agent Maxwell's disguise went away up in Asgard. And so did that curse he put on him to keep him quiet. There was no doubt in Loki's mind that Thor would be arriving soon, realizing both Loki and the tesseract were gone. And where else would Loki go? And then he smiled again. He'd have to wait until his brother came. Then he could initiate war. Maybe even the Avengers would fight each other, like Loki had hoped. It had worked along with his plan quite well when he thought about it. The Avengers would think that those in Asgard had planned this and Asgard would think that those in Midgard had planned this. It was very stupid to think either thing, but none of these people seemed very smart.

Except Gwen.

Loki's thoughts kept returning to her. She was so powerful. He had known she would be, seeing as it was the tesseract that brought him to her. He knew that once he used the power he held in his hands in a way that she had inspired him to, he would have her under his complete control.

And once he had Gwen, there was no stopping him.

It was busy on the helicarrier after Loki had made his appearance. And Gwen didn't want to leave her living quarters. She just wanted to stay in there until she could completely understand what had happened. But she realized that someone would come to fetch her eventually, and so she got up and dressed.

After exiting her room, she made her way to the command center where everyone was still up from being awoken the night before. Each person was sliding away on their screens, looking for any signs of Loki.

Fury stood in his spot in the middle, his arms out on both sides of him, looking at several different monitors. Gwen saw that Steve was already in there, his arms crossed, watching the different screens, though Gwen was pretty sure he didn't know how to read them. Bruce was not present and was most likely in the labs, looking for any sign of the tesseract. Tony must've gone back to Stark Tower to sleep.

Gwen went up next to Steve. "Have they found anything yet?"

Steve shook his head. "Nothing."

"Is Doctor Banner in the labs, then?"

Steve simply nodded.

"Is there something wrong?" Gwen asked softly.

"I signed them," answered Steve.

Confused, Gwen turned to look him in the face. "Signed what?"

"Agent Coulson's cards."

Gwen nodded in understanding. Phil had loved those Captain America cards he had. She supposed that he had asked Steve to sign them. They were in great condition and all.

"Loki killed him before I could," added Steve sadly. That's when Gwen suddenly realized what she was missing.

Loki was back and he was the one who killed Phil. And, seeing as Phil had been such a fan of Steve, the war hero felt guilty.

"We'll get him, y'know," said Gwen soothingly. "I'm sure we will."

"But how many people have to die first?" asked Steve.

Gwen didn't answer. How was someone supposed to answer a question like that?

"I gave him his first card, y'know," she said instead of silence. "The day I learned he was such a big fan of yours, I grabbed the one I had and gave it to him."

Steve frowned. "You had a card?"

Gwen nodded. "My grandfather was a fan too. Seeing as you were the reason he joined the army in the first place."

"What?"

"He had attended one of those shows you did. I swear, it was like he had a man-crush on you."

Suddenly, an female agent stood up. "Director Fury, we have a hit on a supernatural disturbance."

Fury quickly strode over to the monitor, followed by Gwen and Steve.

"Is it Loki?" asked Gwen.

"No," answered Fury, looking out the glass windows at the front of the helicarrier. "It's his brother."

Gwen looked up too and saw the sky had turned gray and cloudy. Thunder shook the helicarrier and lightning struck outside.

"Take us over there," commanded Fury to the crew. "And call in Stark. Get him here quickly."

The crew of the helicarrier went to work until the ship was placed in the middle of the storm. There was a loud bang overhead and Gwen snapped her head up in surprise.

"Agent Romanoff!" called Fury. Gwen saw that she hadn't even noticed the redhead lurking in the command center. "Go fetch him. Bring him here."

Natasha nodded and quickly left.

"He's not dangerous, is he?" asked Gwen uncertainly to Steve.

Steve laughed. "Not unless you count being the god of thunder dangerous."

Gwen swallowed loudly and gave an uneasy nod.

They waited and suddenly the doors opened. Gwen expected to see Natasha with Loki's brother, but instead it was only Tony, still looking pretty tired in a long sleeved shirt and jeans.

"Do you people ever sleep?" he asked irritably.

"It's eleven in the morning, Stark," answered Fury.

"I know what time it is, Fury," said Tony with an eye roll. "Just...never mind."

He walked up to Gwen and Steve with a smirk on his face.

"Well, isn't it the lovebirds."

Both of them started blushing, their faces and necks turning bright red. Both opened their mouths and tried to contradict Tony's sentence, but all that came out was a series of stutters.

Tony, still smirking, continued past them. Both Gwen and Steve looked at their feet until the door opened again. This time it really was Natasha with a man behind her.

He was muscular like Steve, and had long blonde hair. He wore armor and a red cape. However, Gwen wasn't too comfortable with the large and heavy looking hammer he wielded.

"Thor, my buddy!" exclaimed Tony.

Everyone watched as he approached the god and wrapped him in a tight hug. Thor raised his eyebrows and rejected the action.

"Mortal, why are you touching me?" he asked in a booming voice.

Gwen coughed to stifle a laugh.

"Because I haven't seen you in forever," answered Tony like a high school girl. "Might I say, your hair looks marvelous-"

"That's enough, Stark," said Fury. "Thor, we assume you're here because of Loki, correct?"

Thor, looking pleased that Tony had backed off, moved forward.

"Yes, that is my reason for returning," answered Thor. "Also, the tesseract-"

"Is missing, we know," replied Fury. "Why is it that you did not tell us?"

"We did not know," continued Thor. "We were alerted of its disapperance only very recently. Then I discovered that the Loki that was locked up in Asgard was not Loki at all."

"Yeah," said Tony, "he's here in whatever you call this place and probably planning to wreak havoc. He's also got the tesseract."

"We believe he used it to change his appearance," added Natasha. "He was disgused as-"

"Agent Alexander Maxwell," completed Thor.

Everyone looked at each other and then back at the god.

"I heard cries for help coming from where Loki was to be," answered Thor. "It was not Loki. I believe he had him switch places with him."

"How is Agent Maxwell?" asked Gwen, surprising herself.

"He is injured. A healer is tending to him. He can not travel until he is healed."

Gwen suddenly felt bad for hating Agent Maxwell so much. It hadn't even been him when her hatred truly came out.

"Do you know what Loki might be up to?" asked Steve.

"No," replied Thor. "I can only assume it is the same as the previous time he was in here in Midgard."

"So that's what you call it," said Tony.

"I suspect he will try a different strategy this time," continued Thor. "Of what I am unsure."

"Well, I guess all we can do now is wait," said Fury, turning around to face his monitors again.

Everyone seemed to disperse and go to do their own thing, however, Thor looked at Gwen and approached her.

"I believe we have not met," he said.

Gwen eyed his hammer for a second and then looked at his face.

"I'm Agent Gwendolyn Powers," she said, putting out her hand. "I have taken the place of Agent Phil Coulson."

Thor did not shake her hand, but instead lifted it to his lips and kissed it gently.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Gwendolyn."

Steve cleared his throat loudly, but Thor didn't notice.

"I am Thor Odinson of Asgard," continued Thor. He let go of Gwen's hand and she let it drop to her side.

"He's not as bad as I thought he'd be," she said once Thor moved past her. She turned to Steve who had a serious expression on his face. "Is there something wrong?"

Steve turned to look at Thor before answering. "No. Nothing."

But Gwen could tell he was lying. It wasn't until Steve walked away that Gwen realized why he seemed upset.

And she couldn't help but smile as the butterflies attacked again.

Gwen and Bruce were immiediately transferred to the labs to begin looking for the tesseract. However, Tony did not go with them even though he was ordered to.

He came in about fifteen minutes after Gwen and Bruce had begun their work.

"This is for you."

Gwen turned to look at Tony, but was forced to look down as he shoved a small group of yellow dasies into her hands. Tony continued past her looking rather crabby.

"What?" she asked as Bruce chuckled.

"They're not from me," stated Tony. "It's from your secret admirer."

Gwen looked down at the flowers again.

"What?" she repeated, still feeling confused.

"Oh for crying out loud, Gwendolyn," said Tony. "Who do you think they're from?"

Gwen began blushing as she realized that Steve had Tony give them to her. But then she looked back at Tony and realized he didn't look too happy.

"Tony?" she asked with a big grin. "Are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much."

"Are you getting protective of me?"

Tony turned around to look at her with fake surprise. "I am not."

"Yes you are."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Okay, this could go on forever."

Gwen sighed as she set the flowers down on a counter gently. There was a bit of silence for a moment.

"Are too."

Tony sighed. It was going to be a long day.