Chapter Five: Reindeer Games and an Identity Revealed
We disembarked from the jet after landing on a giant ship in the middle of the ocean. It was busy on the deck, with men and women in SHIELD uniforms running around in a coordinated fashion. I absentmindedly followed Natasha, hearing her speaking in her earpiece about some man they needed at the bridge, but I was concentrating on my surroundings.
"Agent Romanoff." A male voice greeted pleasantly "This is Captain Rogers."
"Ma'am." Captain Rogers greeted her with a nod and I subtly took him in. He was a fine specimen of a man, built with wide shoulders and a narrow waist. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a sculpted features that were pleasing to the eyes. My eyes gravitated back up to his own and I was met with a wonderful baby blue, peering at me with curiosity.
"Hi." Natasha greeted before turning to address the man. "They need you on the bridge. They are about to start the face-trace."
Phil nodded and walked off towards the inside of the ship after a quick goodbye. That left Natasha, Captain Rogers, and I standing aimlessly as we took in our surroundings. Captain Rogers appeared to be about to open his mouth but Natasha spoke first.
"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Natasha asked lightly, walking slowly towards the edge of the ship.
"Trading cards?"
"They're vintage." Natasha informed him with a humorous smile. "He's very proud of them."
"Interesting." Captain Rogers said with a bemused expression, his attention returning to me afterwards and extending his hand. "I'm Captain Steve Rogers."
"Yes, I know." I said amusedly, watching as his ears were tinged with pink. I took his hand in mine and shook it firmly, offering a smile. "Dr. August Harker. You may call me Auggie."
"Auggie then. They didn't mention much in your file." Captain Rogers asserted with a questioning tone of voice.
"No, I do not imagine they would." I replied with a hint of a smile.
"Dr. Harker is even older than you, Captain Rogers." Natasha told him, ignoring the glower aimed at her. This makes for the second time she has informed someone of something she had no right to divulge.
Captain Rogers eyes widened, eyes instantly going back to my face and shaking his head a little. "Were you in ice too?"
I snorted in amusement, thinking of the irony. "No, Captain, the only thing that I am frozen within is time."
"You're immortal?" Captain Rogers asked with wide eyes.
"Allegedly." I shrugged, not sure how old I could grow to be. It was not something I was keen to discover.
"That sounds very lonely." He said softly, making my eyes snap up to meet his. This was the first time someone said something like that instead of how amazing it was to live forever or stay young. I nodded slowly, cautiously, in response to his statement without breaking eye contact. He was the first to look away, something over my shoulder drawing his attention. "Dr. Banner."
"Oh, yeah. Hi!" Bruce said, reaching out to shake his hand. "They told me you'd be coming."
"Word is, you can find the cube." Captain Rogers stated matter of factly
"Is that the only word on me?" Bruce probed
"The only one I care about." Captain Rogers said firmly
"It must be strange for you, all of this." Bruce said empathetically, gesturing to our surroundings.
"This is actually familiar." Captain Rogers responded
"Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe." Natasha told us all, making my eyebrows raise. So it was not only a ship.
"Is this a submarine?" Captain Rogers asked
"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurised, metal container?" Bruce asked incredulously, falling silent for a moment as we watched the propellers rise from the water and begin to lift the giant structure from the water. "No, no, this is much worse."
"A helicarrier." I said out loud, shaking my head in wonder at the advances humans have made in the last one hundred years. Incredible.
We all filed into the helicarrier as it rose higher and higher above the water. We walked into a large, open metal hallway with SHIELD agents bustling through the corridors purposefully. Natasha guided us to the bridge confidently and we arrived just to hear Fury give the order to 'make us vanish'. That was when the ship became invisible and Captain Rogers handed Fury what looked like a ten dollar bill from his billfold.
"Gentlemen…" Fury said, nodding at Steve and myself before facing Bruce. "Doctor, thank you for coming."
"Thanks for asking nicely." Bruce said sardonically "So, how long am I staying?"
"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind." Fury told him promptly
"Where are you with that?" I interjected, looking to Coulson as he answered.
"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops... If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."
"That's still not going to find them in time." Natasha commented
"You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Bruce asked
"How many are there?" Fury fired back with a small smirk on his lips
"Call every lab you know." Bruce ordered, the once shy man becoming confident while in his element. "Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner his laboratory?" Fury directed her
"You're going to love it, Doc." Natasha assured him as she lead him away from the bridge. "We've got all the toys."
"Dr. Harker. It's a pleasure to meet you, sorry we didn't get to introduce ourselves. I'm Phil Coulson." Phil introduced himself, extending his hand.
"Call me Auggie." I replied easily, shaking his hand.
"Dr. Harker, is it safe to assume you brought your own food?" Fury asked suddenly, getting my attention with the way he stressed food. I eyed him warily, it seems fairly obvious he knows what I am, but why didn't he put it in the file?
"I thought SHIELD would provide dinner." I said innocently, a wicked smirk crossing my lips. Fury stared at me with his one good eye, no humour at all, and so I sighed wearily before answering. "Yes, yes. I brought food."
"Were we supposed to bring our own food?" Captain Rogers asked, looking between Fury and I in confusion.
"Oh no." I told him, ignoring how little it made me feel to have to look slightly up to his eyes as I smirked at him and continued in a playful way. "I am on a special diet, can be quite costly to acquire… some might even say it could cost a life."
"Is that so.." Captain Rogers trailed off, hesitantly laughing.
The conversation pretty much ended there and since there was nothing left to discuss for the time being, I excused myself to find my quarters with the help of a random SHIELD agent. Thanking the man who brought me to my room, which consisted of a bunk bed, side table, and a porthole window, I grabbed a blood bag eagerly from the duffel bag I still carried and poured it into my thermos. I made sure it was sealed up tight and headed to find a microwave to warm the blood up. My throat was burning with hunger because of all of the blood filled bodies around and I had not fed since before picking Bruce up.
I hummed to myself as the microwave I found, luckily only one deck above me, heated the blood in the thermos. I smacked my lips happily as the sweet liquid trickled down my throat once it was done and took another few drinks as I walked away from the kitchenette. That was when my name was announced to call the bridge. Every corridor had a phone, so I picked one up after reviewing the sheet with the extensions next to it and dialed the connection to reach the bridge.
"Harker, meet Captain Rogers in the hangar. We found Loki and you are to bring him in." Fury ordered
"Yes sir." I said sarcastically, internally laughing at the annoyed noise it produced from Fury, before hanging up the phone and speeding to meet the Captain. I had my daggers already on my person, so I grabbed a smaller bag I kept in the duffel bag I carried with me, filled it with two blood bags just in case, and booked it to the hangar room.
"Nice outfit." I teased when I saw Captain Rogers in the red, white, and blue Captain America suit.
"You're coming with us?" Captain Rogers asked, ignoring my jibe.
"Apparently." I retorted, walking up the ramp to the jet and taking another drink from my thermos.
"I would have thought you would be in the lab with Dr. Banner. You fight?" Captain Rogers asked conversationally, his face nonchalant before grimacing and I watched in veiled amusement as his ears turned slightly pink from embarrassment from ranting. "I-I mean, not that you CAN'T fight, I'm sure you are a swell fighter, I jus- you know because smart people do the important stuff… Not that it's not important what we're doing or I think you aren't smart enough to be in the lab. It's-"
"Captain, I understand." I said, allowing the blank mask I had kept up during his ramble to lift in order to reflect my amusement. "Yes, I have a doctorate in Biochemistry but that field would not be of much use to locate the cube. I am a fighter and I have served in a few wars over the years."
"Really? Which ones?" Captain Rogers leaned forward to hear better over the loud jet as we took off, his uniform tightening across his well formed pectoral muscles in a aesthetically pleasing way.
"The Boxer Rebellion - the only time I was against the British by the way, both World Wars, and the Vietnam War." I confessed, stomping the memories down before they had the opportunity to come forward. I was in mission mode, gearing up for a fight, and I must have complete control over myself.
"You were in World War II?" Captain Rogers blurted in shock
"Yes, though not until a couple of years after it began. I was coerced into joining by a woman whom I met in an alley while visiting London." I recalled with a hint of a smile at the thought of Peggy Carter.
"How old are you?" He asked me not unkindly
I stayed quiet for a moment, adjusting my scarf to ensure my neck was not showing while also indulging in the nervous habit, pondering on whether or not to tell the truth. I did not see any harm in it considering Natasha has already informed him of my long life but I did so loathe to let any hint of what I was out. Especially with the Black Widow up front listening.. "I am one hundred and forty two years old as of this year."
"Wow." Captain Rogers breathed, shaking his head in silent amazement. "How did it happen? Was it the-"
"Fountain of Youth?" I interjected with a snort, used to people jumping to that conclusion by now. "No, to my knowledge there is no such thing."
"Then how?" Captain Rogers asked curiously
I gazed out the window as I thought about how to best phrase it, watching the clouds as we sped by or through him. "It was not something I sought out. It is a curse, one I hope to break one day."
"That's... awful." Captain Rogers said sympathetically, shaking his head. "I hope you find what you are looking for."
"As do I, Captain Rogers. As do I." I replied softly and relaxed a little as a short silence filled the cargo hold, only broken by the noise of the engines and turbulence from our flight.
"Steve." Captain Rogers said suddenly, looking back at me instead of at his boots and shield.
"Come again?"
"You can call me Steve." He said, a small smile growing on his face as I nodded my agreement.
"Steve." I repeated, looking back out the window and adjusting the crimson scarf around my neck.
"Look sharp boys, ETA is four minutes." Natasha's voice rang out in the cargo hold, bringing our conversation to an abrupt end. Capta- Steve threw his shield on his back and rolled his shoulders to relieve any tension. I checked that my hair was pulled back into a ponytail tight enough to not get in the way during a fight, then I tucked my scarf into my shirt so the enemy would not be able to grab onto it easily. We both waited and I absentmindedly began fingering my daggers in anticipation. Before long we came up to a crowd of people with a man holding a staff, wearing a horned helmet, and way too much gold.
There were illusions of the man, flickering in and out of existence, surrounding the crowd of people in order to round them up. As we drew closer in stealth mode, no one noticing our approach, an elderly man stands up from the kneeled position they are all in and says words I cannot make out. Before I could react, Steve jumped from the jet and blocked a shot of blue light that came from Loki's staff, saving the elderly german man's life.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Steve quipped in a loud and demanding voice. I jumped from the jet as well, landing quietly so that the three of us are in a triangular formation.
"The soldier. The man out of time." Loki sneered
"I'm not the one out of time." Steve announced confidently
"Oh, and a vampire. How terrifying." Loki mocked, glancing at me dismissively. I refused to let myself show any reaction to his words, although I did see Steve's head snap towards me out of the corner of my eye. Thankfully, Natasha came in with a distraction in the form of the jet.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." Natasha called out over the loudspeaker as a machine gun lowered from the bottom of the jet.
Loki fired another bolt of blue light, this time towards me, and I threw myself to the right in order to avoid the magic I could feel crackling in the air. It smelled like lightning, ozone, and caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. I was not sure if getting hit by that would kill me or not, truthfully, but I was not eager to find out.
Steve engaged Loki, throwing his shield and getting right beside Loki in order to fight at close quarters. He was most likely attempting to eliminate the projectile by keeping Loki to busy to fire another one off. I studied Steve, his jab which he followed up with a cross, then a sidekick. Pulling out my daggers and spinning them in my hands, I waited for Loki's back to be turned to join the fight. He knocked Steve back, quickly firing another bolt at him which was caught by the shield and the vibranium metal sucessfully repelled it.
In the time it would take a human to blink I was beside Loki, dagger aimed for his back, but changing direction in mid air when he turned to bludgeon me with his staff. I twisted my body underneath it, feeling it barely an inch from my nose as it went over me, I landed on my feet and caught the other end with a dagger. I kicked out with my right foot, which he blocked, and then I did a spinning side kick that made him stumble. Steve came in from his side, using his shield as a blunt weapon, and I ran at Loki, sliding with my legs out to knock his own legs from underneath him. He saw me coming and turned, catching me in the jaw with his staff and sending me flying into the stone wall of a nearby fountain. My head hit with a painful crack, throbbing at this point, but I ignored it as Loki pointed his staff at Steve's head - point blank range.
"Kneel." Loki ordered through gritted teeth
"Not today." Steve grunted as he weaved underneath the staff, performing a spin kick to Loki's jaw as he rose to his feet.
They exchanged blows and I charged in when I saw Steve get knocked back, throwing a dagger straight at Loki's back. As I closed in, his staff glowed blue just as it had when he fired the last bolt, so I jumped to avoid it without thinking. This time, he was able to delay the bolt for a moment, waiting until I was in the air to shoot it at me.
It felt worse than an electric chair, which I have experienced, and I could smell burnt flesh as it tore through my abdomen. Distantly I heard Steve yell something out but I was struggling to keep my eyes open, my head pounding and drowning out any other noises. Silencing any noise until I heard a rock song, that is, and the arrival of Iron Man. It sounded like they were far away but I heard them take Loki into custody, and then I was being picked up by someone, gently, bridal style.
"...No way he survived…" I heard a fuzzy voice
"...family?" another one
Hearing the word family made me think of the promise I made to Camilla to come back and I fought against the grogginess as my body slowly began to heal itself from the magical attack. My eyes opened, glowing gold but dark with hunger. I sat up and reached instinctively into my bag, which was placed within a foot of me, to grab my thermos. Unscrewing the cap, I guzzled the blood, letting out a low groan as it barely satiated the strong urge to feed from a live body and regain my strength.
"What in the.." I heard Steve say nearby, turning to face him only to see him staring at me with wide eyes, only looking more shocked as he noticed the colour of my eyes. I messily drained the rest of the thermos filled with blood, wiping the corner of my mouth to catch a stray bit that had escaped in my desperation. I subconsciously glanced back at Steve and watched him as he looked at my body healing itself - the hole closing, faster and faster, leaving smooth and unblemished skin and abs where a hole had previously been.
"Pity." Loki sneered, breaking the silence in the cargo hold of the jet.
"Sorry to disappoint." I snarked back, falling heavily into a seat. I could feel Steve and Ironman watching me but I ignored it as I readjusted my scarf.
Tony whistled lowly, making me glance up at both Steve and him questioningly. Tony tapped his chest as he spoke "I wish I would have had that two years ago."
"No you do not." I replied quietly
"I guess the blood thing is kind of a pain." Tony said idly
I bristled with annoyance at his flippantly callous remark, opening my mouth to tear into him, figuratively, but was interrupted before the words passed my lips.
"Is he saying anything?" Fury's voice broke through on the radio
"Not a word." Natasha replied
"Just get him here. We're low on time." Fury ordered before ending the transmission.
"I don't like it." Steve said abruptly as he eyed Loki warily.
"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony quipped
"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop." Steve commented, still eyeing the Asgardian.
"It does seem out of character.." I agreed
"Still, you both are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing, Pilates?" Tony asked with a straight face, making me snort. This guy was ridiculous.
"What?" Steve asked, looking between the two of us in confusion.
"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle." Tony told him sarcastically and I watched as Steve's confusion melted into annoyance, his posture reflecting his mood and tightening up.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve said coldly
"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Tony replied without missing a beat.
"Where's this coming from?" Natasha asked as lightning filled the sky and thunder boomed out across the sky, making Loki look around warily which in turn garnered our attention.
"What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?" Steve asked the God of Mischief snidely.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki responded dryly
I stood up, my hand instinctively reaching back to grab my dagger when we heard a loud thud on the ceiling of the jet, as though someone landed on it mid-flight. I unsheathed my dagger, spinning it in my hand twice before gripping it firmly, watching as Tony put his mask on and strode to the door. Steve placed his headgear on the same time Tony opened the cargo door, the wind howling throughout the hold as the door lowered to reveal a stormy sky.
"What are you doing?" Steve called out to Tony as the door lowered. A blonde man, wearing a chest plate and a red cape, landed easily on the lowered ramp and threw the hammer he was carrying into Tony's chest, knocking down and back a few feet.
The blonde man, who I speculated was Thor, strode up to Loki and ripped him from the bench, gripping his throat in an ironclad grip. Summoning his hammer back to him, the man flew out of the jet without a word or a glance back at any of us.
Tony groaned as he got to his feet, muttering lowly as he did. "Now there's that guy."
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha called back from the pilot's seat
"That guy is a friendly?" Captain America asked incredulously
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony said, stalking forward towards the ramp.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve insisted
"I have a plan." Tony glowered, stopping for a second to look back. "Attack."
Tony took off, activating his thrusters and shooting out of the jet after the two Asgardians. Steve looked at me before turning around and snagging a parachute for himself, throwing one to me. He began strapping himself in and I caught mine with my right hand easily.
"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Natasha advised, glancing back at us.
"I don't see how I can." Steve said
"These guys come from legend!" Natasha shouted over the wind "They're basically gods."
"There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Steve declared, looking at me and the parachute I was still holding impatiently. "You need help putting that on or you need me to strap you in?"
"I only let men tie me up if they buy me dinner first." I replied amusedly, pausing before amending my comment. "Well, they are usually the source of dinner but you know what I mean."
"Are you coming or not?" Steve questioned
"Oh I would not miss this for the world. I was waiting for you." I responded, smirking a little and walking up to the ramp, setting the parachute to the side. "Shall we race? Loser buys a round for the first one down."
Steve's forehead creased in confusion as he heard my challenge, eyes widening to form a deliciously shocked expression as I jumped backwards out of the jet without the parachute. I laughed ecstatically as I fell, the wind billowing through my clothes and giving an addictive feeling of weightlessness. I fell with my back to the ground, watching as Steve followed a second later, body compact and cutting through the wind like a knife as he plummeted towards the ground. It did not take very long for him to fly past me and I turned over onto my stomach to watch as he went down towards the massive expanse of forest below.
When he was about sixteen hundred feet from the tree line, he deployed the parachute on his back. With him slowing down I caught up quickly enough, though I angled myself a good distance from him. He was manoeuvring towards where we could see lightning flashing onto the ground, most likely from the second Asgardian, so I was angling away from the fight but towards where I could see Loki standing on a cliff. Concentrating, I transformed into my other form as I drew nearer to the ground. As soon as I hit the tree line, bats swarmed from perches to cushion the fall slightly and I landed with a quiet thump. I waved my hand to release the bats from my thrall and began walking towards the God of Mischief, who was watching the fight between Tony and the blonde man curiously.
"A vampire bodyguard?" Loki called out as I approached, not bothering to mask my presence from the other man. "How quaint."
"Who's your friend?" I asked, ignoring the jab.
"Thor." Loki sneered
"Not a fan?" I asked with faux surprise "I like him already."
Loki did not say anything to that and I rested casually against the rock face, stoically observing the fight going on below as Steve joined in the, for lack of a better term, brawl. I kept Loki within eyesight, ensuring he did not attempt to escape, but the man did not move an inch. The fight did not last long after Steve caught Thor's hammer, knocking both Tony and Thor off of their feet with the resulting shockwave that reverberated ominously through the woods.
"Looks like it is time to get moving." I told Loki cheerfully, walking forward and taking his arm in a tight grip before stepping off the edge of the cliff. Aside from tensing his muscles, Loki showed no discomfort or surprise at dropping a hundred feet to the forest floor below, which disappointed me slightly. I landed with knees bent slightly, straightening up and walking towards the three men staring at us.
"Are we ready to leave, then?" I asked, looking between the three of them. They nod and we began to make our way to a clearing that Natasha could land in to pick us up. Thor grabbed Loki from me distrustfully, pulling him up to the front of our small group, with Tony in the middle followed by Steve and then with myself bringing up the rear. After deliberating a moment, I tapped Steve on the shoulder in order to get his attention.
"Something is bothering me."
"What is it?" Steve asked with a frown, falling back to walk beside me.
"You know how they used to put mice in a maze, with cheese at the exit, in order to study how fast they could get through the maze?" I asked, pausing until Steve nodded to indicate he knew what I was talking about. "I feel as though we are the mice, the tesseract is the cheese, and Loki is watching us to figure something out."
"Why?" Steve asked, his frown deepening as he considered the idea.
"Loki did not try to escape. It is like what you said earlier, it was too easy to capture him. When Tony and Thor were fighting, if it were me, I would have chosen that moment to attempt to escape." I explained in a low tone "Why did he not attempt at all? He was watching when I walked up."
"That is strange." Steve agreed slowly, thinking it over. "What do you think that means?"
"I think that Loki has no intention of giving us cheese at the end of the maze." I replied quietly, my eyes shifting to the green clothed man, who seemed far too comfortable with his current situation, as I spoke. "I do not like it. I cannot shake the feeling that we are doing exactly what he wants us to."
"So what should we do?" Steve asked musingly, his eyes focused on the topic of our conversation as well.
"Unfortunately, it seems we must navigate the maze for now." I shook my head, mind racing to figure out what angle Loki was playing. "We should just be prepared to make our own exit if need be."
A/N: Yay! Chapter Five! Sorry it took so long, you guys, it has been CRAZY. I have ADD, really bad, and my medicine got stolen (I hate assholes.) so I have been all over the place this last week. I am now back! Hopefully going to get some serious writing done this weekend!
Chapter 5 Playlist: Song - Artist - Scene
Freedom - Tegan and Sara - Meeting Steve (Captain America)
Dechorro - Deorro - Jumping out of the jet
Premonitions - Vaults - Dropping from the ledge after Tony, Steve, and Thor fight.
Rache Responds to Reviews:
BloodyAvenger: I'm sorry the flashbacks were confusing! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to message me or ask in a review, I will be more than happy to answer them. Honestly, Auggie's had a looong life and I have so much stuff written on just him - I'm trying to control how much I use and write in the real story because I don't want to overload everyone with information. He is very real to me, however, and I know more about him than I do any other character I've written before.
Ougley: I will take that suggestion under advisement and get back to you in a week. I'm not the biggest fan of the setup on AO3, despite liking their guidelines a lot better, but it's easier to post/organize things on fanfiction in my humble opinion. I'll check it out soon and see how I feel about it now, I attempted a year or two ago and was much busier then so I may have an attitude change now that I am capable of spending more time and patience on learning a new system.
RHatch89: Thank you! I am pleased you enjoyed it :) keep reviewing and reading!
Matt.H: Thank you! I light up when I see those kind of reviews so thank you for your encouragement and I hope this chapter will tide you over until the next! I try to update as quickly as possible, it's just that life does not seem to want to follow my plan always? (shocker, right?)
Okay, so I'm pretty sure this is going to be a series… the way I have it planned, this should cover the Avengers Movie, then the next installment will have filler and be more focused on what's happening with Auggie and his 'mission', then the last will be Winter Soldier/Civil War. (Fuck. Ultron. It NEVER happened.) (Possibly Infinity if it is released before I'm done, which is likely.)
Thank you everyone! Much love!
~Rache