She didn't know where the energy bridge had taken her, but it spit her out exactly the way she had gone in—headfirst. Her limbs flailed wildly in the air for a few seconds before she dropped onto one knee, raising her head to look around.
"I see the Bifrost brought more than expected," a voice observed, deep and echoing off of the golden walls.
Willow stood up, eyeing the man that stood in front of her—he was rather large and daunting with handsome eyes and an unreadable expression on his face.
"Who are you?"
"I am Heimdall, Gatekeeper of Asgard and Guardian of The Bifrost," he turned his back on her and walked over to a raised platform, "I know who you are. But, what are you doing here?"
"I followed a pair of idiots. You don't happen to know where they've gone, do you?"
"I know all and see all. For example, in exactly eight seconds, you'll be discovered and taken before Odin himself," Heimdall said calmly.
"Discovered? I don't—"
"My, my, what do we have here?" A blond man with a cheery smile walked into the dome just then followed by three more warriors, one of whom was a young woman.
"I do love visitors, especially when they happen to be female," he continued, earning himself a slap behind the head by the man with dark hair and what seemed like a permanent scowl.
"Who are you and what is your business here?" The woman demanded.
"Agent Rogers. My business is no concern of yours," she replied, slightly raising her chin.
She realized then that she had a few advantages if it came to a fight—her spear was now safely strapped to her back where it belonged and she'd managed to swipe a gun and a wristlet from the lab before following Thor and Loki.
The super soldier was just about to move into a fighting stance when the young woman's eyes lit up.
"You are the sister of Captain Rogers," she said, stepping forward, "Thor brought his Midgardian companions here to look for you!"
"Ah! Well, we're glad to see you're very much alive," the blond said eagerly.
"I am Fandral. This is Volstagg, Hogun and the Lady Sif."
"Willow."
"We should take her to Thor."
"No!" she interrupted the young woman, "I need to talk to Loki."
The excited atmosphere disappeared instantly and all four warriors shuffled on their feet, shooting each other meaningful glances.
"He stands trial as we speak," Hogun said gruffly, "what you ask is impossible."
"Why do you want to see the man that took you as his prisoner, anyways? I'd imagine you'd be running for the hills," Volstagg asked, perplexed.
"We have unfinished business. I just want to speak to him for a few minutes, please," she insisted.
"Though I highly doubt you would get anywhere, what affairs you have with Loki is to be taken to Odin. His actions have earned him his place now. He deserves what he will receive."
"First Jotunheim, then the attack on Midgard—he's always been jealous of Thor, but I didn't think he would take it so far," Fandral murmured to Volstagg.
Sif glanced at Willow.
"Your intentions are strange, but we cannot grant you this request unless given permission by the Allfather. Thor will know of your presence either way," she declared.
The super soldier looked up at Heimdall who gave her a shrug and she sighed.
"Fine."
—————-
After helping Tony take Pepper to the medical wing, Bruce had come looking for Steve.
He'd explained that both Natasha and Clint were in the middle of interrogating the attacker and led him to a different floor where Steve could see through a one way glass window as Natasha suddenly struck him across the face.
Clint was talking, but all the man did was spit globs of blood on the floor at his feet. He was tied to a chair and glowering at them as if they had been the ones to break in and shoot up the place.
"Anything yet?"
The scientist shook his head.
"Ah," he said, glancing at Steve out of the corner of his eye, "Thor and Loki went back to Asgard."
"Nothing we can do. They have their own matters to attend to, I'm just glad to be rid of Loki," he grumbled.
"Yeah, about that—"
Bruce cut off as Natasha and Clint stepped out of the conference room. She didn't look happy, but Steve never could read the assassin anyways. For all he knew, she could be jumping for joy and not a single muscle in her face would twitch out of place.
"He only wants to talk to you, Cap," she said.
"Me?"
"Apparently."
She shrugged in response to his confused expression before he stepped around them and entered the room, closing the door behind him.
Clint stood beside Bruce and folded his arms.
"You tell him she went AWOL yet?"
"I was halfway there," he sighed.
Steve moved closer to the man in hopes of recognizing him but he was drawing a blank.
He'd never seen him in his life, he was sure of that, so he couldn't reason why he'd want to speak to him until he leaned forward, blood streaming from his nostrils and his eye swollen shut.
"The package is secured," he said in a low voice, "Agent Rumlow's taking it to Dr. List as we speak."
What a surprise, Steve thought before clearing his throat authoritatively.
"Everything will continue as planned?"
"Yes, sir. The number of volunteers dwindle as fast as they grow, but List was able to extract two living experiments with no difficulties."
"Living experiments?" He asked, trying not to sound too confused.
"Healthy and young, sir. He's very eager to begin phase two of the test trials."
Suddenly, the door slammed open to reveal an outraged Tony and the man quickly sunk in on himself, averting his gaze.
Before Steve had the chance to say anything, he aimed his thruster and blasted the man backwards, causing him to slam against the wall and crash to the floor, still bound to the chair.
Tony lunged forward and drove his foot into his stomach once, twice then in the face before Steve finally pulled him away.
"Get off of me!" He snarled, pushing against the super soldier, but to no avail as he dragged him out of the room and closed the door.
The others watched Steve struggle with the billionaire for a second before finally gripping him by the shoulders.
"Tony, listen to me, that man is HYDRA! We need to hand him over to S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
"So you wanna let him walk? That's basically all we're doing once we give him up or did you forget that HYDRA is S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Tony snapped.
"I'm sorry, but if this little thing goes sideways, we won't be able to fix it once it's down! You'll get your chance to make this right, I promise! You just have to trust me!"
He roughly pushed him back and clenched his fists, knowing that if it wasn't him he could hurt, he'd damn well rip the soldier a new one.
"Trust you? Like how you trusted Willow?" He demanded. "I'm not gonna lie, to me she was just spouting some Stockholm Syndrome bullshit but for her brother to openly doubt her in front of everyone? That's gotta sting, Rogers."
"Willow wasn't herself," Steve shot back.
"It's not like we'll ever find out any time soon."
"What do you mean?"
Tony didn't bother answering him as he abruptly left and Steve turned to the others questioningly.
"When Thor took Loki back to Asgard, she followed them," Bruce explained, the super soldier looking taken aback at the news.
"What? Why would she—"
"No one here bothered to listen to her," Natasha interrupted, "maybe someone will over there."
A shout of anger drew their attention to the man who was struggling to right himself as he pulled against his restraints.
"Did he say anything?"
"Something about a package being secured. Whatever HYDRA took, they're using it to experiment on living things."
"People?"
"Not a far off theory, to be honest."
"I'll go check the lab," Bruce muttered, exchanging a look with Steve. He hurried out of the room with Natasha on his heels, but Clint gestured to the shooter.
"Need any help with this?"
Steve shook his head and pulled out his phone.
"Hill. I've got a shooter here at the Tower. Think you could deal with him for me?"
"What am I, your errand boy?"
"Not even close. Fury got you caught up with everything?"
"Just about."
"Consider him a part of that."
"Hm. I'll send a team for him."
"Thanks, Hill."
He slid the phone in his pocket before heading back to the laboratory, deciding to check on Pepper later to avoid getting into it again with Tony. He was right though—Steve hadn't trusted Willow, but how could he?
She had defended and made excuses for the man that had tried to take over New York because she had actually believed Loki to be innocent and now she was gone again.
Whatever she was getting herself into now was entirely out of anyone's hands, but it gave him a slight comfort to know that Thor was with her—if there was anyone that could keep her out of trouble, he'd trust the god of thunder to do it.
As he turned into the laboratory, Bruce was there by himself, intently studying something on the screens.
"Dr. Banner?"
"The scepter's gone," he gestured to the footage.
Steve watched as a man dressed in similar clothing to the shooter walked into the room with a long briefcase, popping it open and carefully placing the scepter in before walking right back out.
"Can you try and trace its energy signal?"
"I did. Can't pick it up anywhere."
"So," Clint said as he walked in, "no Willow, no Loki and no scepter...again. Fantastic."
"Thanks for the encouraging statement. Please continue," Bruce snarked, sitting down at the main console and pulling up different operating systems.
"If HYDRA wanted it in the first place, why didn't they just ask you to snatch it for them?"
"I'm assuming to keep my cover under wraps. I don't have an inherent need to haul the thing off anywhere and I don't think Pierce entirely trusts me, anyways."
"Well, what are you doing here, then?"
Steve rumpled his brows in confusion.
"You're supposed to be the mole and you can't be the mole if you're here," Clint explained.
"He's right," Bruce chimed in, "you have to gain his trust somehow. Maybe you could find out what they're doing with the scepter, too."
"Maybe."
He was reluctant to admit that he didn't feel comfortable being around Secretary Pierce, but there were many situations in the past in which he'd had to put that feeling aside and get what needed to be done over with. And if Steve was being entirely honest, he was also terrified at what he would find—everything that he and so many others had sacrificed to destroy an organization hellbent on forcing the world onto its knees meant little once he learned that they were in full operation in the present day.
All of it—the fighting, the deaths, the plane crash.
Surely...surely it had to mean something.
He turned away from the screens, going wherever his feet would take him without thinking about it until he finally ended up on the platform. The crisp wind whipped at his cheeks as he slowly walked over the mark the Bifrost had left behind, processing every single bit of information as best he could and going as far back as the first time they'd met Loki.
He gazed out at the city below him, wondering and planning and wishing and dreading although he didn't exactly know what he was wondering and planning and wishing and dreading about.
Steve's thoughts turned to his past and his mind caught on the edge of a memory painfully suppressed before he forced it back into place. Most of his memories contained Willow, but this one in particular was one he felt he could never forgive himself for and it would bring him great emotional pain just thinking about it.
There was no one in the world Steve loved more than his sister and although he couldn't begin to understand why Willow was doing what she was, he could only hope that she would be safe.
——————
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