Scribbler95: Thank you so much! Here you are :)
morganclaire1: Aww thank you :D
Chocoegg333: It's really cool too. I've been thinking about the slight differences about it too and guhgkhgj I love the suits so much.
ILove2Write13: You are seriously so sweet omg omg omg i love you so much.
Counting Sinful Stars: He will eventually ;)
I would like to thank ILove2Write13 (my dearest Sarah) for everything and for being perfect and pretty much like my other half.
School?!
REVERIE will be updated soon, this weekend at the earliest.
Please Enjoy.
IV
Mountain Ledge
Somewhere in the European Mountains
9:23 PM
Loki hit the ground hard as Thor threw him into the mountain ledge, Mjolnir raised and eyes glaring angrily at his brother. Loki fought back a groan, somewhat fazed by Thor's strength.
"Where is the Tesseract?" Thor demanded.
Loki laughed, his ribs aching at the action. "I missed you too."
"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?!"
The dark haired god stood up and brushed himself off, his lip curling upwards with loathing for the man he once called family.
"Oh, you should thank me," Loki sneered. "With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here?" He took a breath and then spat, "Your precious Earth."
Thor dropped Mjolnir, the mountain quaking as the mighty hammer landed. The blonde then seized Loki by the collar and hoisted him into the air, his gaze softening.
"I thought you dead."
"Did you mourn?" Loki questioned, trying not to show his tentativeness.
"We all did!" Thor exclaimed. "Our father–"
"Your father," Loki corrected haughtily. "He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"
Thor released Loki who walked away from him and to the ledge to cause an even bigger wedge between them. Loki looked down, shoulders hunched and stomach queasy. Thor always had to complicate things with his blundering movements, impulsive behavior, and lurching actions. He felt only disgust for Thor and even deeper repugnance at himself. How he longed to purify himself of the Frost Giant poison racing through his veins.
"We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?"
Loki spun around, his pale face livid. "I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss, I who was and should be king!"
"So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights," Thor proclaimed. "No, the Earth is under my protection, Loki."
The younger male chuckled. "And you're doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves, while you ideally threat. I mean to rule them, and why should I not?"
"You think yourself above them."
"Well, yes," Loki stated.
Thor smiled in spite of himself, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. The throne would suit you ill."
Loki gritted his teeth and indignantly shoving Thor aside. He stalked back to the ledge, his vexation building up and up into an irate rage.
"I've seen worlds you've never known about!" Loki shouted as he turned to face the other Asgardian. "I have grown, Odinson, in my exile! I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it–"
"Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be-king?"
"I am a king!"
"Not here! You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!" Thor's yell quieted into a plea as he then went on. "You come home."
"I don't have it," Loki taunted. "You need the cube to bring me home, but I've sent it off, I know not where."
Thor's hand shot out and Mjolnir flew back into his grasp.
"You listen well, brother. I–"
A bolt of red and gold instantaneously tackled Thor in mid-flight, knocking him off the mountain.
Loki, who still remained, said to the air, "I'm listening."
Another spot of red shone above him, this time glistening with silver. Like a falling star, in the shape of a metal suit it descended further until it landed beside the god. Loki smirked, recognizing her from the S.H.I.E.L.D files Barton had dug up.
"Iron Woman," Loki greeted, crossing his arms. "We meet at last."
"Let's cut the chitchat 'cuz I've got an idiot brother to save and ass to kick," she snapped. "Do you plan on moving or do I have to personally escort you back to the jet?"
Loki grinned. "Oh, don't mind me. I currently have no plans on moving."
"Good." He could hear the grimace in her voice when there was exceptionally loud crash from below. He watched in rapt attention as she flexed her fingers and arms, rolling her shoulders, and twisting her head.
"Don't get too comfortable, I'll be back in a sec."
Her hands seemed to light on fire, propelling her into the air, and off the ledge to the forest below.
Thor and Iron Man crashed into the forest, Thor rolling himself back to his feet in shock. Tony, who had still been standing, kept his distance as his helmet opened up.
"Do not touch me again!" Thor ordered.
"Then don't touch my stuff," Tony replied simply.
"You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Uh..." Tony peered around the trees. "Shakespeare in the park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"
"This is beyond you, metal man," Thor barked. "Loki will face Asgardian justice!"
Tony held his hands up, internally rolling his eyes. "He gives up the Cube, he's all yours. Until then, stay out of my way."
His helmet clamped up as he walked away, muttering under his breath, "Tourist."
In one quick move, Thor pulled Mjolnir, chucked it, and flattened Iron Man clear across the darkness of the woods into a tree. Inside the suit Tony bared his teeth and checked his settings.
"Okay."
Thor recalled his hammer back into his hand. He then swung his weapon, summoning a blinding ray of electricity in preparation of the fight that was about to begin.
Stark stood up and blasted a beam of energy that sent Thor flat on his hind. Tony then flew up and knocked Thor into a tree in revenge. In turn, Thor extended Mjolnir to the skies, thunder and lightning booming above. He then pointed the hammer at Tony and a huge jet of electricity electrified the suit, the outpouring bolts of lightning zapping the metal and increasing in intensity so much Iron Man soared backwards.
"Power at 400% capacity," Jarvis alerted.
Inside the suit, Tony smiled, "How about that?"
Tony fired from his hand boosters, pushing Thor to his knees. The blonde leaped up, only to fall back again when a pair of feet collided with his shoulders, hands wrapped his hair, and another iron suit flipping over him and shoving him to the ground.
Lea landed on her feet and jumped over his fallen body to face her brother. She took in his smoking suit and battered armor with a slight jolt of fear.
"Lea? What do you think you are doing?!"
"Helping you out, of course."
"Dammit, who taught you to rebel?"
"Well, I learned from the–"
"Lea!"
The female super solider was cut off by Tony's yell as Thor grabbed her from behind, whipping her across the clearing. Before she could crash she flipped her boosters on, turned through the air with the poise of a dancer, and rocketed like a bullet back at the man who tried to harm her. Thor ducked and sprung, grabbing Tony. Tony wriggled out of his grasp by elbowing Thor in the face and then smashed him into the side of the mountain.
"I said don't touch my stuff!" Tony snarled.
Thor and Iron Man crashed down, smashing into nearly every tree in range as they grappled. Tony yanked Thor up into the air, Thor crushing Tony's hand boosters. In retaliation, Tony quickly charged as much energy as he could and shot it right into Thor's face.
Thor fell back right into Lea's arms. When he turned she roundhouse kicked him right in the face, using her momentum to then head-butt him with her helmet. Thor gnashed his teeth together and head-butted her back, actually sending her airborne.
Tony punched Thor in the face, Thor grabbing his fist and twisting him through the air. Lea grabbed him by the cape and swung him around into another tree. At that moment, Thor glared at the both of them, his patients utterly and completely lost.
Thor called Mjolnir into his hand, using the butt of the handle to thrust Lea down to the ground. He swung and just as the hammer was about to crush her, she used her boosters to skid away across the foliage.
"Now, Tony," Lea told him in the suit.
Thor, his eyes glued to Lea, didn't notice Iron Man barreling toward him.
"On it."
Tony rammed square into the god's back with all the power he had. Thor tumbled but caught himself, flipping onto his feet and ready to pounce.
'C'mon,' Lea thought, her jaw locking. Her viewscreen zoomed in to where Loki was standing on the cliff to check and make sure he was still there.
It was suddenly if she was being transported and seeing out of the eyes of another.
She saw two metal suits standing below, a god poised to attack, and the glimmer of a red, white, and blue shield ricocheting off of her brother and Thor's armor. She felt the shield flying back and the holder slipping back over her forearm.
Lea was then back, her out of body experience over and leaving her woozy. There on top of one of the many fallen trees was Captain America himself.
"Hey! That's enough!" he commanded. Rogers hopped down, his blue eyes scrutinizing the god of thunder. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here–"
"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor bellowed.
"Then prove it! Put the hammer down!"
'Dammit.'
"Um, yeah, no!" Tony warned. "Bad call! He loves his hammer!"
Thor backhanded Tony like a pimp with Mjolnir so hard he disappeared in the debris of the demolition they had caused.
Thor fiercely glowered at the Captain. "You want me to put the hammer down?"
The thunderer vaulted high into the air, his hammer held high. Lea's heart plummeted into her stomach at the sign of Steve in danger without an armor suit to protect him. Rogers crouched down and ducked under his shield, the hammer hitting the shield so hard there was a massive implosion of light, a ringing pulse that nearly caused her eardrums to explode, and an immense shockwave that blew Lea off her feet. When the vibrations finally stopped, Tony pulled his little sister up and they both stood up, eyes flitting around.
Cap let out a breath. "Are we done here?"
S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier
Hovering over the Atlantic Ocean
Avengers Locker Room
9:56 PM
"You heading out, Tony?" Lea asked, her brother's face up on the corner of her helm.
"I've gotta talk with Coulson real quick. I'll take my armor off in our separate locker and meet you in the briefing room."
Lea nodded. "Got it. See you in a bit."
Her viewscreen dwindled into darkness as she stepped back into the compartment that had been transferred onto the ship, the machines within removing her suit piece by piece. Steve and Thor, who had accompanied her to the locker room so Steve could show the two of them where it was located on the colossal Helicarrier, watched in fascination as it whirred around her, the metal on her arms and legs being quickly pried off and folded away. When her helmet came off and she stepped out of the compartment, the glass sliding up and the suit stored, Thor looked petrified, as if he had suddenly been slapped on the face by a ghost.
"I...I must apologize," he stammered. "I did not realize that you were in fact a woman."
"No big deal." Lea waved it away.
"No, it is," Thor informed her. "On Asgard it is immoral to fight a woman as I did, especially without me knowing your true identity and gender. I feel abominable for harming you."
"Honestly, don't worry about it. You barely even scratched me. Now, my armor is going to need some touch ups, but you didn't hurt me." When the sorrowful expression upon his face did not fade, Lea took his hand. "Seriously, Goldilocks, I'm fine. I'm Amelia."
To her surprise, Thor leaned down and brought her hand to his lips.
"Lady Amelia, I am Thor, son of Odin, and prince of Asgard."
Lea smiled broadly and then peeked over her shoulder at Steve.
"I should get myself an Asgardian," she joked.
The three of them walked through the hallway, Thor's cape and full armor evaporating off of his body. The female super solider kept sneaking glances over at Steve only to find him doing the same thing. Without her even realizing it, she always found her eyes wandering over his legs, his arms, chest, and shoulder blades, watched the flex and ripple of his muscles, and his straight back as she studied his every movement. Her heart picked up at the sight of him, a trillions questions pirouetting in her brain that she longed to ask.
'Later,' she promised herself. 'After debriefing.'
In the debriefing room she slid her hands into her sweatpants' pockets and plopped down on a stool. Natasha Romanoff (a woman she was very familiar with and still not at the same time) and another man with curls of dark hair were waiting. Steve sat down beside her, Thor choosing to stand off to the side somewhat by the sitting Romanoff and the standing stranger. She then directed her attention on the screen before them as Director Nick Fury and their new prisoner, Loki, were in the detention section of the Helicarrier.
In a large glass cell held by hydraulic rigs was where Loki was held captive. Fury was standing at the control panel of the cell with a very severe look upon his face.
"In case it's unclear. You try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass..."
Fury pressed a button on the control panel that caused the huge hatch underneath Loki's cell to open up. She couldn't see the drop but she could certainly hear the gusting, howling wind below. It was enough to make her fear for her own life in the safety of the debriefing room.
"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?"
Fury closed the hatch. He then pointed at the dark haired god and said, "Ant." After that, he gestured to the button that would drop Loki into the supposed steel trap.
"Boot," Fury informed.
"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me," Loki said with a simper.
"Built for something a lot stronger than you."
"Oh, I've heard."
To be even more infuriating, Loki stared straight into the camera with a gaze that caused shakes to slither up her spine.
"The mindless beast makes play he's still a man," Loki went on. "How desperate are you that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"
"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cuz it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."
"Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is."
Fury smiled. "Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something."
The screen cut out. All was silent until the stranger Lea hadn't met (but guessed he was the Hulk from the footage she had seen), broke the hush.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?"
"Loki's gonna drag this out," Steve insisted. "So, Thor, what's his play?"
"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not afraid of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract," Thor explained.
"An army? From outer space?" Steve questioned seriously as if he did not believe Thor.
"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," Dr. Banner said.
"Selvig?" Thor inquired.
"He's an astrophysicist."
"He's a friend."
"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha clarified.
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him," Steve chimed in. "He's not leading an army from here."
Dr. Banner cleaned his glasses on his shirt, put them back on, and crossed his arms. "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him–"
"I don't care how to speak," Thor interjected gruffly. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "He killed eighty people in two days."
Thor swallowed self consciously. "He's adopted."
"Iridium," Bruce went on, ignoring the two. "What did they need the Iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent."
Lea, who had been quiet and doing calculations she had deemed more important than jumping in the conversation, turned her head when her brother walked in with Agent Coulson.
"I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive," Tony assured Phil before acknowledging the rest of the crowd. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D."
Tony gave his sibling a wink and patted Thor on the arm. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing."
Amelia stifled a laugh at the god's immediate bewilderment. Tony strode up onto the bridge and rambled on. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants."
'True. But if you were to reverse the polarity and withhold the voltage...'
"Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails!" the eldest Stark called to the crew working below. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice...but we did." He then threw his hand over one of his eyes and rotated to face each of the four screens. "How does Fury do this?"
Agent Maria Hill gazed at him soberly. "He turns."
Tony shrugged, examining Fury's desk. She knew what was coming all too well. Tony had ranted and raved to her about his suspicious with Fury and she knew that Tony wouldn't rest until the true came forth and they were either confirmed or denied. He wouldn't rest with plausible. So when his hand brushed under the desk, so fast, light, and mostly concealed by his body positioning, Lea knew that he had planted one of the tiny, button sized hacking devices she had invented onto Fury's hard drive without anyone noticing.
"Well, that sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source."
Thor, Natasha, Steve, and Agent Hill were bemused.
"A high energy density, something to kick start the cube," Lea apprised.
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill lobed at the Starks.
"Last night," they answered in sync.
"The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers…are we the only ones who did the reading?"
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve queried.
"He has to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," answered Bruce.
"Unless, Selvig had figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony countered.
"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."
"But what about ionizing radiation?" Lea reminded, testing Bruce's knowledge. "That would mean that dealing with the Tesseract would be potentially dangerous. What about his scepter? If a piece of the Tesseract's energy is lodged within the weapon for him to wield, it's something that's potentially dangerous to have on the ship. Which would mean that...?" Lea trailed off, prompting him. She could almost see the gears turning in his head.
"That the radiation would have to be the key," Bruce speculated. "The radiation can be used to our advantage. By tracing the gamma energy and the ionization, we can match that to locate the Tesseract, which was what I was called here for. But I didn't even think about using ionizing radiation. It would potentially be a more reliable source unless there are other factors around like factories using nuclear power."
Tony, who had smiled and chuckled at Lea's hidden motive, grinned even wider when Bruce's knowledge matched their own.
"Finally," he gasped. "Someone who speaks English."
"Is that was just happened?" Steve jested.
Tony sauntered back over the bridge and to the group, his hand extended to Bruce. The two shook hands, mutual respect glimmering in their eyes.
Lea got up and introduced herself as well, nearly unwilling to leave the Captain's side for reasons she couldn't place.
"Amelia, but I prefer Lea," Lea introduced.
"Lea." Bruce smiled, shaking her hand. "Great."
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-election collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster," Tony praised.
Bruce looked down and squirmed slightly. "Thanks."
Lea returned to her seat just as Fury arrived, butting into the conversation.
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you two might join him," Fury convinced.
"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve suggested. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
'HYDRA,' Lea pondered. 'He fought against them in World War II. There weapons worked with the Tesseract's energy and–'
Her thoughts were cut off by Fury.
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys?" Thor asked. "I do not understand."
"I do!" Cap blurted, his hand shooting up. "I understood that reference."
Tony rolled his eyes while the Captain looked proud of himself. At his beam Lea felt a terrible sickness in her stomach, one of loneliness, of the world she once called her home becoming bizarre and foreign, and depression. She could only imagine how alone Rogers really felt trapped in a place that he did not recognize and how truly delighted he must have been to finally find something he knew and was a piece of his time.
Instead of someone giving him the encouragement he probably desperately needed, Tony put all attention upon himself.
"Shall we play, doctor?"
Dr. Banner smirked. "Let's play some."
Lea's brother waved for her to follow, to return and become once again conjoined at the hip as they always had been. She looked to Steve and shook her head.
"I'm gonna hang out with Cap, if that's okay," Lea told him.
The Captain let out a faint sigh of relief. Tony examined his sister with steady eyes and dipped his head, keeping his face neutral.
"I'd really like it if you came to the lab."
"C'mon, Tony, please?"
Her brother huffed and maneuvered around the awkwardness of the situation and the tension in the air with a joke "Fine. Just don't stay up too late, kiddo. You won't be getting your Cheerios if you stay up past your bedtime."
It was the blond's turn to roll her eyes. "Gotcha."
When they were gone, Lea faced Steve. "You coming?"
Training Room
10:30 PM
After Steve had shown Lea around the sections of the Helicarrier he knew, they stopped in the training room so the female could scope it out but in the end, Lea had ended up collapsing on the training mats face first claiming that she was exhausted of waiting to talk to him and they just needed to get it out there or something along those lines. Her voice had been muffled to near incoherence by the thickness of the mat.
Steve sat down and crossed his legs, Lea sitting up and doing the same. A billion questions were zooming around in his cranium like motorized freckles, his thoughts personified by insects crawling out of his mouth in the form of a question.
"What is it like?"
Lea's forehead creased, her eyes shining with excitement and amusement. "What's what like?"
"Being a super solider," Steve prompted. "Is it different for you?"
"Is it different for you?" Lea mused. "I've got a larger lung capacity, a faster, stronger, and bigger heart, brain activity that's off the charts, and I can parkour like there is no tomorrow. I'm guessing it's the same for you, Steve, seeing as I was based off of you."
The male had been ready to ask what parkour was when the last of his sentence tied his tongue in a huge knot. "Based off me?"
"Well, yeah." Lea was suddenly abashed. "Good old Dad brought me into this world not because he wanted me, but because he wanted another you. According to Tony, he was pretty peeved when they found out I was a girl."
Steve found it hard to breath, his inhale ensnared within his throat.
"I mean, he got over it, eventually. At least, I think he did. The third time he called Tony, Tony said he sounded a lot happier about it. So, I think he did. My mom and dad got in a car crash when they were bringing me home, so I never got to know if he was still mad at mother nature for giving me a vagina."
His face grew unnaturally hot. Lea cackled as he turned five different shades of red.
"D-D-Do all gals talk like you?"
"No," Lea promised between giggles. "You can blame my brother for my mouth. Sorry, Steve, I'll keep it minimal."
It took them a few minutes to both recover, but somehow, they managed.
"What's it like for you?"
"A lot like it is for you," Steve noted. "I thought we would be different some how but...we're not. When I was injected with the serum, after it was over, everything was so much clearer. It was like my whole life...my whole life I was trying to see the world through a foggy window and when the injection was over, everything was as clear as crystal. Sounds, sights, smells, thoughts, movements...did you notice that?"
Lea shook her head.
"How long have you been a super solider?"
The corner of Lea's lip quirked up in a grin. "My whole life, so that's why. This..." she gestured to her body, "this is all I've ever known. I was never a scrawny boy from Brooklyn, I came out screaming and as strong as an ox. I was born like this, you were made like this."
"So you grew up a super solider? Didn't your schoolmates or friends notice anything?"
"Absolutely." When she nodded, her blond braid bobbed about on her shoulder. "It certainly didn't help that I was a Stark, that's for sure. But I was always afraid in gym class or just walking through the hallways that someone would notice my muscles if I crossed arms and I was wearing a short sleeved shirt. I was so freaking afraid that I spent my short high school and college career in sweatpants because I was so terrified that if I ran or walked too fast or moved the wrong way, someone would notice the muscles in my legs. It was something I finally learned how to control, just stay loose, don't tighten your legs, blah blah blah. Pepper taught me how to walk in high heels or in a dress or in skinny jeans so I could spend time on the red carpet or out in public with Tony."
He couldn't help but notice that at moment she was in sweatpants. Old habits die hard, he guessed.
But when she moved, Steve couldn't see what she was talking about. She only looked healthy and toned like a born athlete, not like the freaky body builder she was making herself sound to be.
"God." She flopped down, her head resting in his lap. "You don't know how happy I am to meet you. I've kinda been waiting my whole life, so thanks for finally showing up."
Steve smiled, strangely completely at ease with her sprawled across his legs. He was unsure of what to say. Thank you for existing? God bless Howard for bringing you into this world because I would be kinda sorta maybe lost right now without you?
"Thank you," he finally murmured, staring into her hair. "Thank you."
~Illumini