Chapter 4 - A Shield as a Sword

Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, and Bruce Banner sat in silence together, morning the loss of their friend. They brought the scientist along with the tesseract back to the compound in case there was any chance of getting Tony back. Thor, meanwhile, took Loki back to Asgard to stand trial for his crimes and interrogate him for more information regarding the artifact. Bruce kept staring at it.

"Tony's not dead," he said finally.

"Is that a fact or what you want to believe? He fell through one hole and into another," said Clint quietly.

"Doesn't mean he's gone," said Cap. Natasha stood very still in the corner, arms crossed.

"If I hadn't closed it sooner … " She muttered to herself.

"Natasha," Clint whispered kindly. Steve got up to console her.

"Hey, don't do that. It's not your fault."

"Then what happened? What went wrong?" she asked desperately.

"No you did everything right," said the weary scientist. They all turned to look at him. "I designed a fail safe in case it needed to be closed, but the anomaly that occurred is not what I designed."

"What are you saying?" asked Steve.

"It just opened a new portal by itself? Or did someone else opened it?" Bruce commented.

They ended their skull session with more questions than answers. Rest seemed like the most necessary and easiest solution, so off to sleep they went, except for Steve. The vivid image of Tony falling helplessly only to disappear for his valiant efforts edged in the back of his head, and he did nothing but watch. Steve lingered in the Iron man's workshop. It probably wasn't a healthy thing to do, but seeing all of his suits decorating the back wall, the Captain nearly hoped that one of them would come to life and Tony would be inside, ready to release one of his irritating quips. He heard a sound from behind him and clutched his shield quickly. Nothing was there except a light. He thought one of Tony's AI's was acting up ready to display a hologram or something. A ring of light grew larger, revealing a window to another world. Steve's eyes grew wide and he pushed a button on his coms to alert someone.

"Hey! Can anybody copy!? Another portal has opened!" he said but no one responded. He heard a scream and swords clashing from the other side. Steve sighed knowing what he had to do but would definite regret it. He didn't know how long it would stay open so he left a recording for his teammates just in case.

"If anyone receives this, another portal has opened … and I'm going in."

Steve stepped through with his shield and star spangled suit knowing the potential of it being a trap. The other side was dark with many trees and an opened field. The portal closed behind him just as he suspected so he followed the screams and the glowing light from a fire. Five men in dark cloaks held a tall woman in blue leather against a tree. Her hands were bound. Another man with longish blond hair, covered in mud sat tied to another tree in pain.

"Hey!" yelled Steve. The leader of this group of terrible men turned to him. He scoffed. "And who the fuck are you?" he asked eying him like a tart.

"Let her go and no one gets hurt," he said firmly. The man laughed sinisterly in the dark. The fire making shadows dance across their faces. He stepped forward as his other men were trying to force themselves upon the tall woman.

"It's a bit late for that," he hissed pointing to the man tied to the tree. Cap gripped his shield and slammed it against his face, breaking his nose. The filthy blond man heard the crunch of bone and the man fall to the ground. He looked up confused by this new player. A silver star stamped on his chest. The other men stopped what they were doing and drew their swords. The man on the ground groaned in pain. Steve threw his shield like a frisbee at the armed men knocking them to the ground like targets in a pinball machine. The shield came back to him, catching it on his arm. Another man who regained his balance charged him, but Cap blocked his sword with his shield and parried with a hard punch to his face. The man stumbled backward, giving him an opening to for a second strike. Another third man came forward, but Steve quickly slammed and charged him with the flat part of his shield, hitting him over and over in the head till he clasped. The fourth one ran. Steve panted watching the coward leave. The fire crackled and roared as the horses whined and stamped their hooves in fear. Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister had no words for what they just witnessed.

"You alright?" said Steve in an accent they did not know. The first man he hit groaned on the ground. Steve dropped his shield, picked the man up with little to no effort and gave him a hard uppercut. The man laid motionless on the ground. Brienne let out a shuttering breath.

"You're not going to kill us?" she whispered. Captain America turned to face her.

"Looked like those men were going to kill you. Not me," he said. Jaime noticed his shield and how shiny it was in the fire's light. He had never seen metal like that before. A shield that could be used as a weapon. Steve grabbed the chains hugging her to the tree.

"I think … one of the men had a key … " she said, but Rogers had already ripped it in half with his bare hands, his hard biceps flexed. She shut her mouth quickly, not believing what she was seeing. Jaime's eyes flew open wide, his mouth agape. The shock distracted him enough from his current pain. Steve walked over to him and did the same. Jaime was too weak to stand up. Steve put his arm underneath him and lifted him to his feet. He noticed a fleshy hand draped across his neck and grimaced looking at the arm around his shoulders to find its source. The stumped wrist smelled of rot. Steve closed his eyes in shame. The man smelled of war, like the war Rogers was use to, but for some reason he could not stomach this one. What kind of world had he entered? He prayed Tony survived.