info: MAGIC! AN UPDATE! Um, my account was under ban for having the word "shit" in a title... sorry folks. So here it is. PS - anon, please find me on tumblr, i love you. I LOVE YOU, THIS IS FOR YOU.
"Where is he?" Steve asks.
"He just walked out of the temple, east side. He's... he's just standing there."
Steve looks to Thor, who grinds his teeth together and keeps his face expressionless. His gaze sweeps up the temple stairs, coming to rest on the very top. "Let us know if he moves," Steve says.
"Should I take the shot?"
"No," Thor answers quickly.
Steve glares at him.
"We do not want Loki to know we are here," the Thunder God adds.
"Alright, standing down," Clint says. "You're free to move forward, the next guard pair is still a fair distance off."
"Thanks, Clint."
"Just doing what I do best, Cap."
Clint talks them through the motions until they enter the temple, where even Hawkeye's sight is useless. Steve's breath comes in quiet bursts, his heart beating loud in his ears. Beside him, Thor moves as quietly as possible, but the armor and his breathing is so loud in Steve's ears he thinks they minds as well be marching in with a drummer boy at their heels. Clint tells them he's going to be out of radio communication for a few minutes while he gets situated in a better nest, but lets them know that Loki still stands outside the temple. This offered Clint several opportunities to make sunset jokes, to which Natasha told him to stuff a sock in it or she would personally sew his lips shut.
Despite everything roiling and dark and angry inside himself, Steve still smiled at the pair.
Thor finds the stairs before Steve does, maybe because Asgardian temples and the ancient Mayan ruins have a lot in common. With no reluctance, Steve lets Thor lead the way up the inside stairs. Strangely enough, where the outside stairs go straight up the side with no turns, the inside stairs twist and turn, sometimes spilling them into a large room where they need to hunt the next set down before climbing them. It is all very exhausting, and Steve can see why the Trickster God had chosen this place to hunker down. Anyone who made it to the temple, past the guards, would also have to climb countless stairs to reach him.
Steve is determined not to let Loki win in any way, even something as small as being tired. So he grits his teeth against the beating of his heart and the screaming of his lungs, lifting each leg with purpose and focusing on anything but the burning muscles asking him if he might want to stop for a quick breather. Thor doesn't seem to be having the same problems. Each step has as much energy behind it as the last. Being a God must be nice, Steve reflects.
Just when things were seeming to be too easy, something had to give. Thor steps from the stairs, and something larger than either of them takes the God out in one hit. Thor flies through the room, hitting the stone wall with enough force to shake down debris from the ceiling. Steve moves quicker, having enough warning that they are under attack to properly function. The metal golem slams it's fist into the stairs where Steve had been, and the nimble soldier dances around behind him, aiming smart blows with his shield to any point that appears weaker than the others. The vibranium shield pings uselessly off the armor, and Steve backs up to formulate a new plan. The golem does no such thing. The joints of its body begin shifting, turning around in an alien smoothness that – no matter how many times Steve sees such things – still sends a shiver of discomfort down his spine.
"Look out!" Thor calls.
He lifts his hammer from the floor and flings it, sending it sailing into the golem's head. The metal sentry jerks with the blow, staggering to the side, as the hammer makes its return blow, clipping the golem's shoulder. Thor catches the hammer and rushes forward.
Steve notices, for the first time, that the golem is hollow. Where there should be a face, there is only darkness. It fascinates him, as most anything so futuristic does, and he goes slack staring into the space beyond space. A thing that shouldn't exist, but clearly does right in front of him.
"Do not gaze into the guardian's visage!" Thor shouted, turning to look at Steve in time to notice it is too late.
Thor slams Mjölnir into the ground at his feet, sending cracks splitting out from the impact. One reaches Steve as the other reaches the golem, and with a thundering step, the golem crashes into the weak spot in the floor. With half its leg stuck in a hole, the rest of the body twists, attempting to unstick itself. Steve stumbles forward, the spell broken, and picks up his shield just as their opponent realizes that being stuck doesn't necessarily mean he has no moves left.
Light flickers in the empty shell of armor, flames rolling inside, and the golem straightens its body, one knee to the floor. Steve ducks behind his shield, pulling his body together as the blast of fire shoots from the golem's mask in a boiling torrent. Tendrils of scorching flames erupt around the shield, Steve breaks into a sweat, his grip growing slick. The belching golem doesn't seem to be relenting any time soon, and Steve isn't sure how much longer he will be able to hold the shield. The edges were turning a molten shade of red even as he watches, and the grips are are becoming warm to the touch.
By some fate of the Gods (because, by now, Steve has given in to the fact that one God was a lonely creator and had welcomed more into his heavenly bosom) the flame gutters out, and Steve chances a peek over his shield.
Thor is behind the golem, his hammer swinging in a powerful arc to shudder off the thing's helmet. It grunts, a strangely ethereal noise, and begins shifting body parts to face Thor without physically turning around. As it does so, a slot opens beneath its chest, exposing a dull red pulse. Steve keeps his eyes on it, getting to his feet and being careful not to touch the outside his rapidly cooling – but incredibly hot to the touch – shield. Before he can reach the weak point, the armor clinks back into place and Thor rolls to the side to dodge another blast of fire. Steve leaps forward, brining the shield down on the golem's back, the sound ringing through the stone room, and for the first time, Steve feels minute vibrations trickle through the shield. He doesn't dwell on it. Thor is hollering, the golem is twisting around, and Steve is backing away from the fire he knows will come.
But it doesn't. Thor's hammer swings into the weak point, crushing the golem's torso, sending the metal crashing to the floor, pieces scattering as the flames gather into a tight ball over the ruined body. For a moment, everything is still. Then the fire fans out in every direction, licking up the walls and around Steve's entire body, the touch warm but not overly so. Then it vanishes into thin air, leaving the pair breathing heavily but otherwise unharmed.
"That was very close," Thor says.
"Yeah, nice shot."
"Thank you for offering yourself as a distraction."
"Of course," Steve says, waving his hand as if it is nothing, that people jump in front of giant metal golems all the time.
Clint's voice breaks his radio silence. "Cap, Loki is moving."
"Time to pay him a little visit," Steve says gruffly.
"Listen, I can't find a good nest. I'm not going to be any use out here. All I can do is make sure Loki doesn't get any backup," Clint says.
"That's perfect, Barton. Keep an eye peeled." Steve turns to Thor, who has a grim expression set across his face. "Don't get in my way."
Thor doesn't respond to the threat.
He's a God.
"When this is over, you and I have to seriously reevaluate our vacation choices," Tony said, speeding over Steve's head in his Iron Man suit.
"I seem to remember this wasn't supposed to be a vacation," Steve responded, taking out a man with the flat of his shield.
"I seem to remember Fury saying this was a beach mission."
"Breach mission."
Tony scoffed.
"Look, we get the bad guy, bring him to SHIELD, and go on a real vacation, how about that?"
"I'll have to check my schedule," Tony responded sarcastically.
With Iron Man up in the air, Steve plowed through the meager resources the drug-lord thought to hire. He had to hand it to the man, though. The goons he was swinging at were trained in basic combat, and their body armor was state-of-the-art high-tech stuff. Almost like the bulletproof material Tony was trying to design for the Hulk. Except, getting the Hulk into clothing was a lot like trying to pet an alligator, so Tony had given up after the second hospitalization. Everyone was thankful for that.
Fury may have said Breach, and Tony may have heard Beach, but for once they were both right. The house was located on a beach in Cuba, and the breach was getting into the drug-lord's den of inequity to pull him out of power. Steve, more than anyone, wanted to do this. He knew what men were like firsthand when they had that much power. Tony was reluctant to agree, except that he didn't want Steve running around in the stars and stripes without some serious firepower to back him up, especially in a country that, historically, wasn't friendly with America. And there they were, Steve knocking goons left and right, and Tony blasting their weapons to bits.
A regular army of two.
Steve ducked a blow from a short man with crazy eyes, bringing his shield up to clip the man's jaw and send him backwards. The next man to attack him came from the side, and he felt the blow to his leg, sending him to one knee. The attacker, thinking he had taken down the invincible Captain America, reached in for a heavy punch, with too much force and momentum to send him any other direction. Steve gripped the man's wrist, twisted, and slammed him onto his back in the dust.
The third man turned tail and ran.
"Tony, there's a runner," Steve said, abandoning the chase before it began. His eyes were on the prize, sitting just inside the elaborate home overlooking the beautiful waves of the Pacific ocean.
"Leave him," Tony answered. "He's small change compared to whats-his-face."
"Eduardo Mandez," Steve corrected.
"You know, you need to stop that. No one else on this team corrects me."
"No one else on this team kisses that mouth every night, either," Steve shot back.
"Oh, you're getting good at that, I might have to put some ice on it when we get home. Until then, get your head in the game, Cap."
"It's already there," Steve said, grinning stupidly. Maybe being on a two-person team with his lover wasn't the best idea in the world, but he liked to keep work and play separate. He wouldn't have slipped between Tony Stark's sheets in the first place if he couldn't differentiate from sex and work Tony.
Iron Man lands beside him, the gold mask reflecting the sunlight. "Ready?" Tony asked.
Steve nodded, kicking in the door. Green smoke billowed out, obscuring their vision, and Steve began coughing violently. Warm metal hands gripped him under the arms, and suddenly he was flying out of the smoke, into fresh air where his lungs didn't burn with the acrid substance. Coughing and sputtering, he tried to see through the tears at the corner of his eyes.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know," Tony answered. "JARVIS, run a test on the smoke."
Steve didn't hear the reply, but he felt Tony's gauntlets grip tighter.
"Tony, what is it?"
"We've got company."
"I'm assuming not of the good variety?"
Tony seemed not to hear him, because he launched into a tirade of orders as he lowered Steve and himself to the ground some distance from the smoky building."JARVIS, contact SHIELD immediately, have them pull Barton and Romanov from Bosnia and put them back in New York. Find Thor and bring him here. Lock down Stark tower, do not let Pepper leave." He paused, listened to JARVIS, and let Steve go once safely on the ground. "I don't care if she has a meeting, she can video conference them. I made her an entire room for that thing. Just lock her in, and don't let her override your protocol!"
Iron Man's mask slid up, revealing Tony's pale face, sweat covering his brow.
"Loki," Steve said sullenly.
"Yeah, I was surprised, too."
"But here? What does he want with a drug dealer?"
"Bag of cats," Tony answered. Then, suddenly getting the I-have-an-idea look, he turned away from Steve to address someone who wasn't even there. "Banner! Hey, big guy, have a question for you. How do you feel about tinkering with thermonuclear astrophysics again? I'm going to need a power boost to the Arc-reactor and I don't have the time to crunch numbers myself."
Tony must have received a fairly positive response, because when he turned back to Steve he was grinning.
"If Loki is here, why hasn't he struck yet?" Steve asked warily.
"Not sure. Lets find out," Tony said, striding forward as the mask lowered with a distinct clack. He disappeared into the green haze of smoke, swallowed up.
Steve watched, barely on the edge of his metaphorical seat. Suddenly, the smoke began rolling, twisting and changing color into a purple mess, and Tony skidded out of it on his back, sparks flying off the Iron Man suit as he came to a stop several yards away from Steve.
"Are you okay?" Steve shouted, running to his fallen comrade.
"Loki packs a mean punch. Don't go in there," Tony answered, pulling himself to his feet. "Don't know why he's staying in there, but I don't like that smoke."
Steve didn't answer, because he was hoping SHIELD would come in any second now to save the day. More importantly, he was waiting for Thor to crash down from the heavens with his mighty hammer and take Loki away again. As long as Loki wasn't there, that was all that Steve wanted at that point.
Smoke swirled and parted as Loki stepped out of the house, resplendent in his flashing armor, the two golden curved horns rising above those cold eyes. He didn't speak, not at first, just stared the two down. Then a cold, marked grin split his face. "Just the pair of you?" he asked quietly. "That seems bold."
"Thor is on his way, Loki," Tony threatened.
"No," Loki answered, shaking his head. "Thor is otherwise busy. I fear he will be here to pick the pieces up, but he will undoubtedly miss the battle."
