V I G I L A N C E ~ (MCU) ~

C H A P T E R 1_

The ship rocks a bit as the captain exchanges a look with Stark because of that reply.

The thunder booms around us as we fly, Romanoff having a tough time keeping a straight route.

It makes me nervous too as it rocks our vessel and I hold onto my seat.

But just then something smashes on the roof of our little plane that makes everyone jump a bit and look up.

"What the hell was that?!" I ask as I grip onto my seat.

Some looks are exchanged before Stark grabs his helmet and the Captain his shield, preparing for a fight.

The iron man opens the hatch to find who is visiting but Rogers asks him, "What are you doing?" and having to yell over the sound of the rough wind.

As the door opens someone lands on the ramp abruptly and approaches with harmful intentions.

I pull out my pistol.

Stark puts up his hand ready to smite the threat with a laser beam but before he can fire the large man smacks him back against the floor with a heavy rectangular hammer, the blonde locks of this foe catching the wind along with a red cape. Of course. I've heard of this ding bat as well. It's Thor. Brother to my target, Loki. Another Asgardian prince.

Before the captain can act and while I start firing at the new guy, Thor grabs Loki from his seat beside me with a hand at his throat and plunges from the open door, anger in the man's eyes as he flies down from the ship with my target and out of sight.

"Dammit!" I add and hop from my seat.

Stark gets back to his feet and sighs. "And then there's that guy."

"Another Asgardian?" Agent Romanoff asks.

"Think he's friendly?" Captain asks.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract is lost," Iron Man answers before preparing to jump out.

"Stark," Rogers says, "we need a plan of attack."

"I have a plan: attack," he replies before rocketing from the open doorway where Thor left.

"You had better bring him back alive or so help me I will kill you as his replacement!" I shout to him as he jumps out.

Rogers grabs a parachute and buckles it on as I hold the handle above me.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Romanoff warns.

"I don't see how I can," he answers.

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."

"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that." He runs and leaps from the aircraft.

I groan. I want to go and get Loki back, but I decide to let the men do that. I don't find it enjoyable to leap out of a flying aircraft.

Plus Rogers and Stark seem to be a bit more even tempered than I am...

I let go after the door closes and walk into the cockpit again. I sit in the co-pilot seat. "I don't think that Loki's brother will kill him. But I hope no one does anything stupid," I say as I look at the passing clouds outside.

"You have to get used to the way these guys do business. It gets pretty messy," she says, flipping another switch above her before turning the aircraft around. "So it should be easy to find them. Just look for the mile's radius of destroyed landmarks." She searches out the window for signs of this as she speaks.

"Well that should be easy to spot," I reply plainly as I look out the window at the ground below.

After a while we catch a glimpse of Stark flying across the sky in the distance and flashes of things, other than thunder though, that we see as well. Thor seems to be putting on quite the show in the trees beneath us; half of them destroyed.

That's when I finally spot Loki on a ledge of a rocky cliff. The platforms are large enough to land on so Romanoff lowers the ship down to where he stands, looking up at us when we park beside him.

"Now I'm playing delivery boy," she mutters as she relaxes the engines of our vessel to a hum. "You want to keep an eye on Loki? Be my guest. Make sure he doesn't get away," she says, opening the huge door for me as she contacts S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Thanks," I tell her as I walk out of the craft and I head towards Loki. I grasp his shoulder and push him towards the small carrier. While walking, I ask, "Just how many people want to kill you?"

"Too many to count, Lady Esther," he says while striding rather carelessly at my side.

I throw my hand up in front of his chest to stop him from walking. I turn my attention to the loud noises and I listen. I can hear thunder and trees breaking. I grab Loki's arm and pull him in the direction of all the noise. "I want to go and watch the brawl. All that noise makes it sound promising. And I always love a good fight."

He chuckles a little and follows me. "You who enjoys watching a death match yet judges me because I step in and take care myself?"

I respond while walking, "The difference is no one dies in this match. And the reason why I'm not leaving you alone is because I don't trust you. You killed all the people I love. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Not for one minute. I want to be there when this is all over so I can end your life... That's all I want," I finish saying as we reach the clearing where the fight is. Stark is shooting his little guns and missiles at Thor while Thor is throwing his hammer at the Captain.

He doesn't reply for a moment, looking down on the fight with a serious expression. "Some must die for the benefit of something larger." he says coldly and quietly.

I contemplate his theory and I bite my lip. I take a deep breath and say, "You do have a point. I mean, I've heard of something like this before. The story of Noah in Genesis. God saw fit to make the world better, so he flooded the earth and saved a few people so they could repopulate the planet and make it better. But, having the world destroyed now? That seems unfair since we have come so far since that time."

"I won't destroy your world. I will rule it with my righteous hand."

"It's not your place to decide that. Kings are appointed by blood dynasty or by the people. Or even God. He was the only one righteous enough to destroy the world by water."

"You seem pretty moral for a murderess," he says with a deceitful voice like a snake, the piercing eyes of this god of mischief playing at mine.

I shoot him a glare before I continue to look ahead. "I'm a lot of things. Immoral isn't one of them. I have a good reason for everything I do."

"And for killing me?"

I grind my teeth together and clench my jaw, making fists. "Justice."

"Hm... Well besides that. You won't stop me. And neither will this band of genetically morphed fools."

I eye him. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to try and prevent anything bad from happening by getting you to tell them where the Tesseract is."

"Which is why I won't tell them," he looks over at me, something heartless about his features, reminding me who I am talking to.

I growl. "You will tell them. I will make you if I have to. Remember, we are going to be locked up together. I think that I can get you to spill the beans after a while," I say as I watch the fight.

"I think you underestimate me, mortal. I won't be the one begging for mercy," he knifes with his sharp tongue.

I swallow the impulse to push him right off the cliff now. All things worthy of satisfaction are worth waiting for. He will die by my hand and I can promise that.

I swallow my anger and look down at the supers.

The three other men settling the dispute see that the ship is up here. I guess Thor decided to help against Loki's schemes and they come up to join us in order to head to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base to figure out what to do next.

"Ah! Looks who's returned! If you children are done fighting, you can have your hostage back. I'm done babysitting him," I say as I push Loki forward and I walk back to the ship.

The Asgardian lifts a brow and looks at the others.

"I like this one," Thor says in his deep English accent, quoting what Stark said before.

I snicker as I walk into the ship.