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Jayna: Oh my gosh thank you so much! Seriously, thank you! I think I'm gonna cry :')
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I forgot to put in the last two chapters a shout out and my eternal thanks to my beta, ILove2Write13 (or as I call her my precious Sarah). Thank you for being absolutely amazing and putting up with my crap. I don't know what I'd do without you, tbh.
omg so i got a job
Please Enjoy.
III
Underground Lab
Undisclosed Location
8:00 PM
"The Chitauri grow restless."
Loki looked up as he materialized in the throne room of The Other, fully armed in his horned helmet and armor. He smiled to himself, laughing slightly.
"Let them go at themselves. I will lead them into glorious battle."
The Other growled.
"Battle? Against the meager might of Earth?" he demanded.
"Glorious, not lengthy," Loki assured. "If your force is as formidable as you claim."
The Other let out another growl, his voice a dangerous hiss. "You question us? You question him? He, who put the scepter in your hand, who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose when you were cast out defeated?"
"I was king! The rightful king of Asgard! Betrayed!"
The Other scoffed, "Your ambition is little, born of childish need. We look beyond the Earth to greater worlds the Tesseract will unveil."
"You don't have it yet," the dark haired God pointed out. The Other moved to attack him but Loki swiftly stopped him, his scepter aimed at his heart.
"I don't threaten, but until I open the doors, until your force is mine to command, you are but words."
"You will have your war, Asgardian," The Other chuckled darkly. "If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can't find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain."
The Other placed his hand on Loki's head and he was transported back to Earth. Loki winced, glancing around menacingly as if daring for someone to take him on. His brainwashed soldiers continued running their routes and assisting Selvig as he worked around the CMS device. Loki stood up from his meditation position and swept across the lab toward him. At that moment, Clint Barton walked in with a tablet in his grasp.
"Put it over there!" Selvig called. He then looked to Barton and said, "Where did you find all these people?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D has no shortage of enemies, Doctor," Clint responded as he held up the tablet with a picture of Iridium on the screen. "Is this the stuff you need?"
"Yeah, Iridium. It's found in meteorites and it forms anti-protons. It's very hard to get hold of."
"Especially is S.H.I.E.L.D knows you need it," Barton noted.
"Well, I didn't know!" Selvig then spotted Loki and cried, "Hey! The Tesseract is showing me so much. It's more than just knowledge, it's...truth."
"I know." Loki smirked. "What did it show you, Agent Barton?"
The S.H.I.E.L.D agent inclined his head and answered, "My next target."
Loki's grin widened. "Tell me what you need."
"I'll need a distraction." Clint grabbed his bow and with the swish of his arm it flicked out to full size. "And an eyeball."
S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean
8:30 PM
Steve slid his hands in his pocket and leaned against the railing on the bridge. He watched as the agents worked on their search using the satellites for facial recognition of Loki so they could bring him in. Beside him, Agent Coulson had his hands firmly clasped behind his back.
"I mean, if it's not too much trouble."
"No, no. It's fine," Steve reassured with a smile. Just like Natasha had said, Coulson had chosen the key moment to ask the super solider to sign his trading cards.
"It's a vintage set," Coulson informed merrily, unable to contain his excitement. "It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but–"
"We got a hit!" an agent announced from his seat. Steve's stomach clenched in anticipation as the agent read off the information.
"Sixty severn percent match. Weight, cross match, seventy nine percent."
"Location?" Coulson questioned.
"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."
"Captain," Fury notified. "You're up."
Steve nodded and pivoted, heading to his locker to suit up. His heart flittered with the anticipation of battle as he approached the steel cabinet where his updated Captain America uniform was waiting, famous shield and all. He stood in silence, taken aback. He was back in action.
Stark Private Jet
German Airport
8:40 PM
"They got a hit!" Tony hooted.
Lea set aside her laptop with a grin.
"Really? Where is he at?" Lea replied, getting to her feet as her nimble fingers quickly braided her hair down her back. During her nap, it had fallen out and become a disheveled mess.
"Stuttgart, Germany," Tony informed. "Let's suit up."
They had spent most of the day in the plane doing research, playing rummy, and getting ready when S.H.I.E.L.D had called.
"I'm actually excited," Lea remarked. "Do you think the Captain will be there?"
Tony turned around so his sister couldn't see the bitter look on his face. He managed to keep his tone even as he said, "I don't know."
Lea followed Tony to the two glass cases on either side of the hallway where their suits were stored. Together they punched in their codes and the glass flicked open. Lea backed into the compartment as the suit formed around her, enveloping the blond in its protective embrace and sheltering her in the warm armor. It thrummed happily when it closed and sealed around her torso, the helmet clicking into place. The helm came to life when her face disappeared behind the iron mask.
"Welcome, Miss Stark."
"Hello, Jarvis. Set a course to Stuttgart."
Lea stepped out of the chamber to find Tony ready to go.
"Let's hit the road," Tony's said over the comm between the two suits.
"This is gonna be a blast," Lea cheered once they were out of the jet and off into the sky, their thrusters propelling them over Germany. Her eyes flickered to the small square in the left corner of the screen. It expanded to reveal a playlist and she smirked when she shared it to her brother's hud. Freewheel Burning blasted in their speakers and Tony gave a hoot.
"Judas Priest! Perfect for the occasion, little sis."
Lea only grinned to herself, her excitement building up and up until she was sure it would cause her to asphyxiate.
Stuttgart Museum
Stuttgart, Germany
9:00 PM
Loki descended the glistening marble staircase down to the lavish gala below, enthralled by the orchestra. Below his target, a head doctor in Stuttgart, was giving a speech on something Loki absolutely had not desire to pay attention to. His scarf swayed as he flipped his scepter that was disguised as a cane, elegantly swinging it to clobber the head of a guard who neared him with his gun at the ready. At once the crowd erupted into screams and the many guests fled the museum in fear. Before the doctor could even set his microphone down, Loki yanked the doctors off his feet by his collar and flipped him onto a table with a satanic grin.
Loki reached into his coat and pulled out what looked to be an optical torture device. The doctor began to release a scream when Loki plunged it into his eye. The dark haired god smirked even more as the doctor twisted and writhed in agony, a holographic image of the eye appearing on Barton's end so he could gain access to the facility and the glass thermos of iridium.
Loki left the doctor to rot on the table for all he cared, striding out of the museum to the scrambling guests as his armor and gold helmet materialized upon him. A police car became rubble when Loki blasted it apart without hesitation.
"Kneel before me," Loki demanded.
The mob ignored him, still trying to run. Loki closed his eyes and summoned his magic, clones of him appearing and surrounding the crowd. They all grinned and laughed, their spears raised in challenge for someone to dare to try to sprint away.
"I said KNEEL!" Loki screamed. At once, everyone was quiet and the mass fell to their knees before him in petrifying fear.
Loki chuckled and threw his arms out with a wide beam.
"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state?" Loki inquired to the horde. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."
As the words resonated with the crowd one heroic elder German man refused to kneel and struggled to his feet.
"Not to men like you," he declared in a heavily accented voice.
"There are no men like me," Loki explained simply.
"There are always men like you."
Loki sniggered and held out his scepter ostentatiously. "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example."
Just as the light within the scepter glowed bright as Loki prepared to execute the older human, a shield dropped down between the blast, held by a man in uniform. The shockwave of the ricochet of power caused Loki to topple backward and be knocked down on his backside.
Steve's heart raced as he stood erect, shield proudly held before him.
"You know," he said, "the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."
Loki rose to his feet with a simper. "Ah, the solider. A man out of time."
Steve shook his head. "I'm not the one who's out of time."
Above the Captain was a quinjet with its enormous machine gun was pointed a Loki. Over the speakers Natasha's voice rang out.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."
Like greased lightning Loki sent a blast of blue at the quinjet. Thankfully, Natasha maneuvered the aircraft out of the way jut in time which gave Steve the chance he needed. Steve seized the opportunity, throwing his shield at Loki. Before Steve knew it, Loki had flung him to the ground.
With his breath knocked out of him, Steve struggled to sling his shield at the deity. Loki merely swatted it away as if it was a pesky bug. Steve leaped back to his feet and ducked and swung like a boxer only to be shoved to the ground again. Loki stood over him with his scepter tip at Steve's helmet. His stomach flip flopped as his brain raced to think of what to do next.
"Kneel," Loki commanded.
"Not today!"
Steve swung his body around, kicking Loki's legs out from underneath him. Loki stumbled but seized Steve's arm and flipped him over effortlessly. As Steve's body hit the concrete, a bullet of pain rocketed up his spine and he fought to recover, Loki moving in to make the killing slash with his scepter.
In the quinjet, Natasha watched in fear.
"The guy's all over the place," she grumbled as she became a bit worried for the Captain's life.
Suddenly, AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill blared over the quinjet's speakers as they were overridden.
"Agent Romanoff," Tony greeted, his voice accompanying the music. "Did you miss us?"
Outside Stuttgart Museum
9:05 PM
Lea banked around the quinjet as her music wailed through and Jarvis countermanded the speaker's control. Her heart was sprinting at the speed of light in her chest, her inner organs clenched in an iron fist when she shot a hand out and hurled Loki clean off his feet with a shot from her repulsor.
"Nice one," Tony praised.
The thrill was nearly causing her body to detonate within her suit. When she and Tony touched down and pulled out every piece of weaponry their suits had, she kept her eyes on Loki even though she was longing to look at the man who's eyes were solely focused on the two suits. Her pulse picked up even more so if possible when she spotted his shape out of the corner of her eye.
"Make your move, Reindeer Games," Tony ordered.
Lea watched as Loki put up his hands and surrendered, his armor evaporating off his body.
"Good move," Tony noted.
Blood pounded through Lea's ears as the quinjet landed behind her. She was having trouble standing, her knees suddenly weak at the thought of meeting him. She was so close and yet she felt so far away. She yearned to turn her head but her eyes were still stuck on Loki as her weaponry sunk back into her silver and red suit. His pale blue gaze was shifting between the two iron people as if unsure of what they really were.
Lea kept her hand extended before her and aimed at Loki incase he got any smart ideas. She moved behind him and kept her palm on his back, ready to fire. Her heart was a violent hurricane in her chest, hammering wildly and battering her ribcage senseless.
'There he is,' she thought when they were finally loaded in the quinjet, Loki cuffed and in a seat, and the jet back in the air. 'Oh my god that's him. Oh my freaking god that's him, that's the other super solider.'
Lea's usually slick tongue was knotting at the thought of speaking with him, her skin oddly itching the closer together they got. She watched him through her helmet, waiting for Tony to give the okay that they could relax.
"That's him, J," she whispered to the A.I. "What do I do?"
"May I suggest talking to him?"
She was too nervous to comment on his sassiness.
Tony took off his helmet first and set it on one of the seats. Lea could see the Captain's eyes trained on her which only made her heart flutter faster. She reached up and removed her helmet, her braid flopping out and down her back.
Lea saw his breathing stop as her own breath hitched. A jolt of electricity whizzed up her spine when her eyes finally found his, blue locking on blue. Lea gaped at him in astonishment, unable to inhale let alone move toward him. Lea couldn't figure out how his jaw looked so familiar, that shape of his eyes and color, his easy smile, stance, the slope of his shoulders, straight back, and nose. She watched as he slowly smiled and she followed suit, unable to contain her excitement any longer.
"Amelia Stark?"
Amelia's skin crawled with gooseflesh as she finally had a body to connect the voice to that had haunted her dreams for so long.
'It really is him.'
"Yes," she replied, much more calmly than the thoughts that were shrieking in her brain. She couldn't comprehend that he was actually standing in front of her, that the man that was the reason she was graced with existence and whom she had been waiting all her life to meet.
He was holding his hand out to her and for a second she had to struggle to remember what the gesture actually meant. Lea's armored hand sunk into his and her whole body felt warm when his grip closed around hers.
"Call me Lea."
"Steve Rogers," Captain America replied.
"I know," Lea blurted. "I mean–" Her cheeks grew hot in embarrassment as she grappled to get the right words out. "Sorry, uhm, I'm just...damn I'm an idiot."
Steve's eyebrows flew up and he blushed slightly at her curse, but he didn't release her hand. Lea didn't want him to.
"She's a big fan," Tony butted in. "She even has a whole box of collector items dedicated to you in your–"
"He's lying!" Lea gasped, appalled at her brother's fib in order to mortify her further. When she was little Tony wouldn't even let her talk about him. She could only imagine his fury if she had had action figures or something considered nerdy and lame.
"I really don't," Lea promised. "He's jut trying to embarrass me. I'm just...I'm just I'm really excited to finally meet you."
Steve, who had cleared his throat awkwardly at the comment, grinned as Lea tried to compose herself.
"Ma'am, the feeling is defiantly mutual," the super solider guaranteed.
Lea finally inhaled properly and took her eyes off of Steve. Tony seemed to be grimacing, moving closer to his sister. The blonde female turned to study their prisoner at last. His eyes were on the ground but at that moment his gaze met hers and she was captivated by his stare, the way his dark hair was slicked back and fell on his shoulders, the gold glimmering in pieces of his armor, and his cold yet calculating stare. He smirked after a moment, scoffing lightly to himself and returning to scrutinizing is boots.
"I don't like it."
Lea spun back at Steve's whispered comment just as her brother replied as he kept his voice low.
"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"
"Rock of Ages?" she mouthed to herself, slightly confused by the oddly placed nickname.
"I don't remember it being ever that easy," the Captain said. "This guy packs a wallop."
"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's you thing? Pilates?"
"Tony," Lea groaned, half abashed and half amused.
"What?" Rogers' eyebrows flew up in bewilderment.
"It's like calisthenics," Lea answered.
"Oh."
"You might have missed a couple things," Tony noted, "you know, doing time as a Capsicle."
Steve stepped up, clutching his belt and puffing out his chest. He looked down at Tony in irritation.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in for this mission."
"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."
Lea opened her mouth to pry the two egos apart when a crack of thunder and lightning caused the jet to shake violently. Out of instinct, Amelia reached over and grabbed her helmet.
"Where's this coming from?" Romanoff asked from the cockpit.
Lea paid no attention, her awareness instead choosing to focus on Loki who was staring intently out the window.
"What the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve inquired.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki informed.
As soon as the last syllable had left his lips a blinding jet of light hit their transportation causing it to quiver ever more brutally. The ramp dropped open with a crash and there stood a tall man with golden locks and a red cape, a hammer clenched in his hand.
"Thor," Lea uttered, recognizing him from the S.H.I.E.L.D videos. Anxiety snaked down her spine, her stomach churning at the furious expression on his face. He leaped in, grabbed Loki by the throat, and dove back out of the quinjet. Tony then grabbed his helmet and put it on.
"Now there's that guy," he grumbled.
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha questioned.
"Think the guy's friendly?" Rogers asked.
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost. Lea, stay here," Tony ordered.
"What? Hell no!" Amelia exclaimed. "This guy's a god, Tony, you need my help."
"Too bad, so sad. You're staying here, kiddo." Tony turned, his faceplate flicking down.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" the Captain cried.
"I have a plan," Tony responded. "Attack."
Tony jumped out of the jet to chase after Thor. Muttering under her breath, Lea clicked her helmet into place and got ready to leap as Rogers grabbed a parachute in order to follow.
"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha called from the front. "And Lea, your brother said for you to stay."
"No can do," Lea said just as Steve remarked, "I don't see how I can."
"Lea, don't," Natasha tried.
Amelia rolled her eyes as her faceplate flicked down and her hull came to life.
"You're not my babysitter anymore," Lea reminded her.
"These guys come from legends. They're basically Gods."
Steve cast a smile at Lea as she gave a salute and backflipped off the ramp.
"There's only one God, ma'am," Steve told Natasha. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."
~Illumini