Clint blinked quickly, picking himself slowly off of the hot sand. He looked around, unsure of where he was, or even who he was. "Barton!" he heard barked at him. He slowly raised his head to meet the face of Nick Fury. Fury grabbed him by the hair, evaluating his eyes. They were now a dark brown. "Barton."
"My god, I feel like shit." Clint whispered.
"I bet you do. Cuff him, Hill."
Clint did not protest and allowed himself to be handcuffed by Maria Hill.
"We are going to have to get out of this god damned desert somehow. Do you see any sign of them?"
"No sir, but scouts haven't returned yet." Hill began to push Barton towards the shade of the wreckage. "I believe the rescue team has almost finished cleaning up the wreckage into a suitable place for us to take shelter. Let's get inside and wait for the search parties."
Fury looked out on the horizons, hoping for a glimpse of his super team. "Let's hope they find them," he said, mostly to comfort himself, as he walked back toward the wreckage.
Loki groaned as he rose to stand. He grabbed him stomach tightly as he got to his feet.
"Loki, what are you doing?" Natasha asked, reaching for her gun. She knew that he was wounded, but she still felt uneasy about him being so close to her and her companions without a protective barrier between.
"I am an Asgardian. I can heal myself enough to keep myself away from death, but the wounds I received from Thor's… delicate… retrieval of me are still beyond my own skills. It will take much longer for me to heal myself than usual. I am not immortal," Loki replied, almost as if he had expected her to know his abilities already.
"Is there any way you can help Stark's leg, then? I mean, if you are so powerful," Natasha retorted, a bit more sarcastically than she had intended.
"I suppose." Loki stood, crossing his arms, refusing to allow himself to visibly show any sign of pain.
"Then…?" Natasha said, ushering toward Tony.
"Can and will are two very separate verbs, Natasha."
"Do not call me that. It's Agent Romanoff to you," Natasha spat back. Loki smiled and turned his back to her. "Seriously? You just turn around, like a two year old who just lost a toy?"
Loki laughed. "No, I turned around to see my brother and your friend returning on the horizon."
Natasha scoffed, walking past him to meet with the other two. "Did you find anything?" She called out.
Steve yelled back. "No. They must have overshot us by quite a bit. It's going to take a while for us to find them. There is a small oasis about two miles away." The two finally reached Natasha. "How are Tony and Loki? Are they moveable? There is shade and water there. It should suffice for now."
"I agree. Loki seems to be able to move on his own, so we will only have to worry about transporting Stark there. Thor, can you assist?"
"I can. I will do my best as to not cause him any discomfort."
"Thank you, Thor. Your… brother… seems to be able to move on his own. We should get together and start towards this oasis you saw."
"That's a good plan. From there we can continue to scout out and try to find Director Fury and the ship," Steve said, heading back toward the group.
"Ms. Foster, we advise you stay away…" a SHEILD officer said, quickly trailing after Jane Foster.
"Do not tell me what to do," Jane said angrily, holding a hand up to the officer to silence him. "One of my best friends has been taken captive and Thor is back on Earth. How could I not be a part of this?"
"Ms. Foster, it's not safe for you to be at Stark Tower right now," the officer continued.
"Just shut up, okay?" Jane said, walking through the automatic sliding door. Slightly taken aback with the fact she didn't have to open the door herself, she cleared her throat and walked into the room.
Pepper Potts sat on the sofa with a soda in hand, talking with Director Fury on the computer resting on the coffee table. "And you haven't heard from any of them?"
"No, Ms. Potts. We have sent out search parties to see if there is any sign of the prison chamber. We're continuing our search once our systems get back online. Can you start a global search for the suit? We may be able to pinpoint them starting there." The picture began to cut in and out. "I will get back to you soon and update you on our progress. Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Potts."
"Yes sir. Thank you for letting me know." Pepper closed out of the screen and covered her mouth. She was obviously distressed.
Jane took a step forward. "Ms. Potts, my name is Jane Foster," she said hesitantly.
Pepper jumped, surprised by the company. "Hello," she said hastily, getting up to meet Jane at the door. They shook hands. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Foster. Thor has told us good things about you." Pepper took a step back, hugging herself around her middle. "I am just sorry that we have to meet under these circumstances."
Jane looked confused. "These circumstances?"
"You don't know?" Pepper ushered her to the coffee table where the computer sat. "Let me bring you up to speed."
Dusk began to fall as the six made it to the side of the oasis. Thor had gently carried Tony over his shoulder, trying to keep his leg as straight as possible. The group attempted to make some sort of place to rest for the night.
"Thor, since your brother seems less than interested in helping us, could you do something to help Stark?" Natasha said, looking through the sand for anything to make a splint for Tony's leg. The oasis had a few small desert trees and a medium sized pond of water. Loki sat next to it, staring into its rippling surface.
"I wish I could, but magic is not my strong suit. I can attempt to reason with him, but for now, please rest. We will have to continue on tomorrow. We will not last long out in this heat. I will be happy to fly over and see if there is any sign of our company in the morning, before the sun grows too strong." Thor said, though he looked exhausted himself.
Natasha nodded. "Thank you, Thor. Get some rest." She patted him on the shoulder. "We all should get some rest."
"I think this will do for a splint. At least for now." Bruce stood up from Tony's side, wiping his hands off on what remained of the pants he was wearing before his transformation into the Hulk. "If it is at all possible, I would love to request a new pair of pants any time soon. I don't really want sunburn on my ass cheeks."
Natasha smiled. "Hopefully we will find the Helicarrier before that becomes an issue."
Tony laughed. "Just think positively - if you rage monster, your ass will make you look like Christmas!"
"Tony, really?" Steve said, wiping his brow.
"Just a little fun, Spangley. I must say, how is it going in that suit? I bet you are dying of heat."
"I think we all are, Stark. Now shut it," Natasha said, rolling her eyes. "Do us all a favor and go to sleep."
"As you wish, my lady," Tony sneered back.
Bruce sat down by Steve. "Don't let him get to you. He's just in pain."
"I know, it's just hot and disgusting out here. I really feel like I'm melting," Steve replied.
Bruce patted his shoulder. "We'll get out of this, somehow."
"I hope so." Steve smiled.
"Pepper, have you gotten anything yet from the scans?" Jane asked, quickly scanning one of the computers adjacent to Pepper's.
Pepper shook her head. "No, it's not finding anything. The scans on Selvig and the Tesseract are still running. "
"Darcy! What have you found?"
"To be honest, I'm not really sure. I think scans are picking something up about 25 miles away from where Fury said they were."
"I'm calling Fury," Pepper said. Jane joined her by the screen. Maria Hill's face appeared on screen. It was fuzzy, cutting in and out. "Agent Hill. Can you read me?"
"Barely, Ms. Potts. What news do you have?"
"We think we've located them. Or at least in the general area. They look to be about twenty five miles south of your location. I've alerted our team to get someone out there to pick them up."
Nick Fury appeared next to Agent Hill. "Thank you for your cooperation. We've sent SHEILD agents to Stark Tower to protect you if something should go wrong. For all we know, Loki is at large, and he's probably headed straight for Ms. Foster. Keep me posted on any updates." The screen switched off.
"Darcy," Jane said, her voice wavering. "Keep an eye on those scans for Eric."
"Jane, it's going to be alright. We'll find Tony and Thor… and the rest of them and we'll be alright. Loki is with them. He's a thousand miles away and stuck in the middle of the Sahara. He can't tough us here." Pepper said, gently patting her shoulder.
"Oh, I'm not worried," Jane said, her voice betraying the fear she was feeling. "I just don't want to be caught off guard."
James Rhodes knocked gently on the wall. All three women screamed in surprise, and Darcy and Jane hid behind Pepper. "Dear God, Rhodey. You just scared the shit out of me," Pepper said, holding her hand on her chest. She took a deep breath. "Don't do that again."
"You know him?" Jane said, still hiding behind Pepper.
"Of course! He's a good friend." Darcy and Jane relaxed. "Do you mind helping us out, Rhodey?"
Rhodey smiled. "I heard Tony had gotten himself in a bit of trouble. Fury radioed me a few hours ago. I just flew in from DC. So, that's the plan. What do you guys got?"
"We'll fill you in," Pepper said, ushering him toward the computers.
"Loki," Thor said gently.
"Do not speak to me," Loki said. There was still pain in his voice, but he attempted to cover it with a cold demeanor.
"You're wounds are too great for you to regenerate quickly," Thor began, but was quickly cut off.
"And whose fault would that be?" Loki sneered, turning to face Thor. He stood, awkwardly, trying not to put pressure on the pain points. Thor instinctively reached out to help him, but Loki ushered his hand away. "I do not need your help."
"Loki, give up this madness. It is not too late for you to discard this insane dream you have concocted." Thor took a deep breath. "Now is not the time for your hatred. We must all work together if we are going to survive this."
Loki remained silent. He gritted his teeth, curling one hand into a fist. He knew his brother was right. He took a deep breath and nodded, looking away from Thor's gaze.
"You forget we are not immortal."
"I never forgot," Loki quickly snapped back. "You've so kindly reminded me of that only a few hours ago."
"Rest, brother. You will feel better in the morning. But, we need a fire. This desert is going to drop to an intolerable degree. We will need to keep warm." Thor turned away, walking back toward the others. He stopped, looking over his shoulder. "Thank you, brother."
Natasha met Thor next to the water. "Any luck?" she asked, holding herself. The cold winds were starting blow, and Natasha's suit was not built for warmth.
Thor looked at her. His eyes were full of sorrow, but he nodded. Seconds later, a roaring fire appeared a safe distance away from where Tony lay. "Thank you. I take back my princess crack now." Tony said, lifting his arm for a high five, which Loki refused, partially out of confusion at the gesture.
"Thank you, Loki," Natasha said, sincerely. She sat beside the fire, sitting close enough to warm herself. Thor laid down close by and was soon asleep. Natasha sat quietly, staring into the fire as the rest of the team started to fall asleep. Loki slowly sat next to her. Wincing in pain, he pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. "Are you cold?" Natasha asked, attempting to break the silence. She looked at him, waiting for him to answer though she wasn't really expecting one.
"I am always cold," Loki said. There was no emotion in his voice. He stared into the fire, refusing to look at Natasha.
She looked for something to say, but couldn't think of anything to keep to conversation going. She nodded, turning her gaze back toward the fire. "What's it burning?" she asked, confused. There was no wood at the center.
"It's burning the air surrounding it. It doesn't actually burn anything. If you were to put your hand in the flames, your skin wouldn't feel it. The only purpose it serves is to warm." Loki quickly touched the flames, running his hand through some of the outlying pieces. He nodded toward them. "Touch it," he said, ushering her to do the same.
Hesitantly, Natasha reached out. She wasn't sure if she should trust him, but she thought to herself, what the hell? The flames tickled as they wrapped around her fingers. They slowed danced up her forearm. "It's beautiful," she mumbled.
Loki smiled, a small laugh escaping his lips. "I'm glad you think so," he said, flicking his wrists. The flames around her arm receded quickly back into the main fire.
"You sound surprised. That was amazing. I've never seen anything like it."
"Asgardians value strength and honor. Magic is neither of those things in their eyes. I may not be as physically strong as Thor, my strengths lie elsewhere. But for now, I need to rest. It takes energy I currently do not possess. I bid the good night, Agent Romanoff." Loki slid a few feet and lay down close to the fire. She could see a thin silver line of energy coming from Loki, keeping the fire lit.
Natasha hugged her knees close and rested her head on them. She watched the flames dance until they lulled her into an uneasy sleep.