Previously...
"Alright, John, you wanna talk," Nick begins as he gestures towards the doors of that would make them exit the control room, Let's talk...."
...
As Nick, Maria, Ghost, Shadow and Steve all enter his office. The chocolate skinned man went over to his desk and sat down, with Agent Hill standing by his side.
The duo of former assassins were both standing in front of his desk with Ghost having his arms folded as the former World War II veteran decided to stand back.
"Now, where was I?" Ghost began, "Oh, right...What. Did. You. Do?"
"I did nothing that requires me to tell you, John," Nick decided to try and act nonchalantly.
"You're the one that changed the deal and wanted me here, Nicholas," Ghost leaned on the director's desk, "So you better start talking..."
"I don't think I have to answer to you--" Nick began, but before he could get to finish his statement, Ghost reached over his table and grabbed the man before slamming him into a wall, messing up the documents on his table as he went.
Shadow, already seeing Maria reach for her gun, acted quickly and grabbed a pencil that was on the table and slickly moved behind her to hold her down whilst keeping the pencil by her ear.
"It's a pencil," Agent Hill struggled against Shadow's grip, "What the hell's that going to do?"
"Oh, trust me," Shadow commented, "You don't wanna find out."
Nick was currently struggling against Ghost's grip as he was being held against the wall, his feet not touching the ground.
As this was going on, Steve was like a lost puppy, his head kept darting between the assassins and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, not knowing who to help.
"It's just like you read in the debriefing," Nick managed to choke out, "We were using the Tesseract for our research on Sustainable energy!"
"You see that's the thing," Ghost began, his grip not loosening, "I like you, Nicholas. Because you're a smart man...sometimes. Which is why I know for a fact that you have secrets you don't want me finding out," he suddenly began lowering Fury whilst simultaneously fixing the lapels of the man's coat, "So before I find something that'll piss both of us off...you better start telling me the truth."
"You already... know the truth," Nick panted as John stepped back.
"Uh huh, sure," John adjusted his jacket and nodded towards Shadow whom released Agent Hill from his grasp, "Eventually I'm going to start getting restless, Nicholas. So if you do have any secrets lying around on this ship...you'd better start hiding them better."
John passed Steve on his way out and glanced at the blonde as Shadow placed the pencil back onto the messy table and walked out of the room as well, following behind his colleague.
Captain America looked back towards Fury whom was leaning back on his desk, "Is this true?"
"Cap, with all due respect, your job is to help retrieve the Cube, not to ask questions," Fury rubbed his neck.
"Well, with all due respect, sir," Steve looked towards the door that John and Shadow both left through, "I don't think they have the same outlook...And I'm gonna have to agree with them."
He left the room and Fury looked towards Hill, "Hide those Phase 2 weapons. Now."
Agent Hill merely nodded as she left the room to carry out the orders she was just given.
Meanwhile, back with John and Shadow, whom were walking through the halls of the Helicarrier, Shadow seemed ecstatic.
"Oh, man, that was intense," Shadow said with a giant grin on his face.
"Try not to sound too excited," John simply stated as they continued walking.
"This is the most entertainment I've had in the last 3 years!" Shadow held up three fingers, "How I could I not be excited?"
John stopped his advance and looked at Shadow for a moment.
"What?" Shadow asked him, confused.
John said nothing before sighing, shaking his head and walking off.
"Oh, c'mon John!" Shadow called after him, "We were having a moment!" he waited for Ghost to answer, "....John?"
....
As they are waiting to locate Loki using satellite facial recognition, Coulson and Steve stand side by side, waiting as both John and Shadow both just enter the room, Phil not noticing either of them.
"I mean, if it's not too much trouble," Coulson said to Steve as he had his hands clasped in front of him humbly.
"No, no. It's fine," Steve said to Coulson as he had his arms folded, his mind reeling back to what had happened earlier that day in Fury's office.
"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all," Coulson could feel himself swaying as he began to feel giddy with a proud smile on his face, "Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but--"
"I don't rightfully think that matters much, vintage is still vintage," John comments as he walks up to them.
"Huh," Phil turns around before his eyes widen and his mouth opens, "Oh...U--Uh, Hi, I'm--"
"Phil Coulson, right?" John asks him with a smile, "I remember you. You've been chasing me for a long time."
"And...The Ghost knows my name," Phil scratches his head nervously, "Wow."
Steve whom is standing to the side chuckles and shakes his head.
"It. Is. SUCH. an honor, sir," Phil shook John's hand vigorously, "I'm a big fan of your work... I mean, not that it was good...I mean...not that it's not good, I just meant--"
John chuckled now, "I understand where you're coming from, Phil, there's no need to be nervous. These days I'm just a regular old citizen."
"Uh, yes, absolutely, John...may I call you John?" Phil begins, "I mean, I know we've just met and everything--"
"We got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Weight, cross match, seventy- nine percent," Agent Jasper Sitwell's voice is suddenly heard.
"Location?" Phil asks Japser, now going into work mode.
"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding," Sitwell comments.
"Captain, Ghost, Shadow... You're up," the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. states from where he stands at the control panel.
He looks back to John and Shadow, whom both nod along with Steve as they leave. Nick sighed, at least they were able to put their differences aside for the mission at hand.
As John was making his way towards the room he had on the Helicarrier, Phil jogs after him, "Uh, Mr. Smith!"
John stops his advance and looks towards Agent Coulson, "Phil, how may I help you?"
"Uh--Actually, I was wondering if I could be of some help to you," Phil began which made John raise a brow at him.
....
Currently looking down at a giant case of some sort that Coulson brought to him, John raised a brow at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, "Uh, Phil?"
Coulson, whom was simply smiling, suddenly snapped out of his day dream, "Oh! Right."
He typed in a combination on the case and heard a distinct click of the suitcase before he smiled again and began opening it.
John's eyes widened as he stared down at his old Ronin mask and his pair of silver silenced Hardballer AMTs.
He ran his fingers over the guns as he picked one up and examined it, "My guns..." he released a breath and smiled.
Phil grinned, "I thought you'd want to use them on your very first mission."
John looked at him, and wanted to berate him for his comment on the first mission thing, but...when he saw Coulson's smile, he simply smiled in return.
"Thank you, Phil," John looked down at his guns again before raising a brow, "Have they been getting cleaned regularly?"
"Ah, so you've noticed," Phil chuckled, "Agent Romanoff is actually the one that was in charge of your belongings. Ever since your disappearance she's always been cleaning them on a regular basis, but she never used them though..."
John smiles absentmindedly as the glare from the gun's silver shine highlighted his bright blues, "I see..."
He then looked down to his Ronin mask that he left behind in Budapest. Coulson also noticed his stare, "We also took the liberty of redoing your Ronin mask so that was a little more reinforced as a mouth guard."
"Once again," John gave Phil's shoulder a firm hand, "Thank you, Phil."
"No problem, sir," Phil beamed at Ghost with his usual fanboy smile.
"Things are getting interesting," John eventually said as he cocked the gun, loving the sound that he didn't know he had missed.
....
Loki, whom is standing in front of a museum, dressed in 21st century attire and with the scepter, disguised as a cane, walks up to the entrance..
Inside, a lavished gala with an orchestra playing, is interrupted as the Head Doctor walks up to the mic.
Outside the museum, German guards stand in their positions. One of them is standing on top of the roof, scoping.
He then hears a THWACK!
He looks down as one of his guards is shot with an arrow.
He raises his gun and is then promptly shot dead by an arrow.
Barton and his crew arrive at the doors of the locked science building. Barton looks at the retinal scanner and pulls out a S.H.I.E.L.D. eye scanner instrument.
Currently inside the Stuttgart Gala, Loki looks from above the museum and descends down to where the Head Doctor is.
As he makes it down and near the stage, he flips his cane the other end. The guard there notices him and pulls out his gun, but Loki clubs his head in.
CHAOS ERUPTS.
Guests begin to leave the museum as Loki grabs the doctor and flips him over onto a marble table of the mythological creatures BILCHSTEIM.
Loki pulls out an optical torture device before he plunges it down on the doctor's eye. The doctor twists in pain as people's screams grow louder.
Loki smiles at the sounds.
Suddenly, from Barton's instrument, a holographic eye of the head doctor appears and the image of the doctor appears on screen.
The doors to the facility open and Barton walks in, eventually finding in a cabinet, a glass thermos with a cylinder of iridium.
As the crowd runs away, Loki slowly walks out and materializes in his gold armor and helmet.
The police arrive and with no hesitation, he fire a blast of energy in the the cars, flipping them over and over.
"Kneel before me," Loki begins and the crowd ignores him.
Another Loki appears, blocking the crowd and so Loki after Loki appears, they all grin as they raise their spears, encircling the crowd.
"I said," he begins once again, "KNEEL!!!"
Everyone becomes quiet and kneels in front him which prompts Loki to spread his arms out, smiling.
"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?" Loki begins his announcement, "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a blast mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."
As the words resonate to the kneeling crowd, an elder German man refuses to kneel and stands, heroicly.
"Not to men like you," the man's weak voice challenges the God.
"There are no men like me," Loki fires back.
The elder man refused to back down, "There are always men like you."
Loki grins, "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example."
Loki is about to execute him with his scepter as the light glows blue.
Just as the Energy beam shoots out, Captain America arrives!
He dives in just in time and blocks the blast with his shield, knocking Loki down on his ass.
"You know," Captain America began as he stood up, "..the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."
"Was that a World War II reference, Cap?" another voice states as two other men enter frame.
One of them wore a brown leather jacket, bullet proof vest, black gloves and a silver Ronin mask.
Attached to the man's cargo pants' thigh was a compartment for a combat knife along with his combat boots.
The other, the one whom spoke, simply wore a leather jacket underneath the standard S.H.I.E.L.D. black uniform along with a black face mask blocking the bottom half of his face.
Loki stands, "The soldier. A man out of time...and the assassins, a faded kind..."
"I'm not the one who's out of time," Cap begins as from above him and his companions, the QUINJET arrives.
"And you're about to find out what a fading kind actually looks like buddy," Shadow assists whilst Ghost merely glares.
A machine gun is now pointed towards Loki.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," Natasha's voice beckons him and like greased lighting, Loki sends a blast of blue at the Quinjet.
Natasha maneuvers it just in time, giving Cap the time to throw his shield at Loki.
They both begin to Duke it out with Ghost and Shadow joining in afterward.
Cap throws his shield at Loki and catches it before punching the God square in the face.
Loki simply gives Cap a smile before using his scepter to try and take a swipe at the star spangled man.
Cap does his best to block each one as Ghost spartan kicks the god away as Cap went down on a knee from one of Loki's swings.
"Really, you just tried to punch a god?" Shadow says as the assassins now take a go at Loki.
Ghost and Shadow both square up as Shadow's veins and eyes turn blue whilst Ghost fails to go into his ZONE.
Loki tilts his head curiously just before he tries to take a swing at Ghost whom merely ducks and Shadow uses his back to roll over him and kick the God in the chest.
As he skids back, the god rubs his chest, "I sense the power of the Tesseract from within them--Oof!"
Cap throws his shield at the God once more as both him and Ghost, whom still hasn't activated his power both take him on.
The two men take up boxing stances as Loki swings his scepter, Cap blocks and forces Loki away, using his strength.
Ghost uses that opportune moment to dart up and perform a low roundhouse kick to the God's gut.
Shadow, whom still has his powers activated swerves around from behind Ghost and delivers a high round house kick this time, hitting Loki square in the face.
As the men all stand in front of the God of Mischief, whom massaged his face with a grin, he begins, slightly out of breath, "So...the assassins have been granted the power of Gods...Hm."
"What--" Steve begins to take a step forward, just in time for Loki to blast him.
Ghost and Shadow both sprint towards him and dodge his energy blasts as the God becomes angry, "Why. Won't. You. Just. KNEEL!"
"Not today!" Cap's voice is heard as he comes in sprinting and jumps to fling his shield at Loki whom swats it away.
However, as he swatted it, Ghost is able to catch it "Who's up for a game of Frisbee?!" he performs a spin before throwing it back at Loki.
The God whom had his back turned, gets hit square in the back of the head and grows annoyed as he fires an energy blast at Ghost, whom rolls out of the way.
The shield that was now flying away after it ricocheted off of Loki's head is caught by the power enhanced Shadow, "Hey, I'm up for it!"
He throws the shield at Loki's back now and the God actually feels it due to Shadow's current super strength.
As Loki turns around to fire a shot at Shadow however, music is suddenly heard from the Quinjet as Cap retrieves his shield.
AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill" overdrives the Quinjet speakers.
Steve and Loki, whom have never heard this kind of music before, are momentarily dazed.
Ghost looks to Shadow with a raised brow, the other man raises his hands in feign surrender.
"Hey, don't look at me, I've got nothing to do with this one," Shadow defends himself.
"Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?" Tony's voice is heard from inside the Quinjet and Natasha takes this time to sigh.
Both Cap and Loki look up at the sky as Tony flies over in his Iron Man suit and blasts Loki right back to the ground.
Iron Man touches down and stands up.
He pulls out every piece of weaponry the suit has, "Make your move, Reindeer Games."
Loki puts up his hands and surrenders. His armor materializes away.
"Good move," Iron Man says as Cap, Ghost and Shadow all join his side. Shadow's eyes turn back to his usual brown ones as his veins stop glowing as well.
"Mr. Stark," Cap greets, looking down at Loki.
"Captain," Tony greets back before turning around to look at Ghost and Shadow questioninly, "Budapest Man I recognize...the other though..."
Ghost and Shadow merely exchange a glance.
"It's a long story," Shadow states simply.
....