CHAPTER EIGHT
❝ reindeer games ❞
ASTER WAS KNOWN for being sneaky. For the entirety of her life on Earth, she was raised by trained government agents, so it was obvious that she was going to learn how to prance around like a silent fox, going unnoticed by those around her.
Natasha told Aster all about her past. She told Aster all about how her for being able to stay quiet as she moved stemmed from her days as a ballerina in the Red Room.
At first, Aster didn't understand how dancing could have helped her with her skills in combat. It wasn't until she tried ballet for the very first time with Natasha as her coach did she realize that the key to keen precision was staying on her toes.
So she practiced. The more she learned how to perfect her pirouettes and complete her arabesque with ease, the sneakier she got.
And she had the perfect opportunity to use her skill in Germany.
When Loki grabbed his scepter and strode out of the lab they were in, Aster followed at a distance. They had used a portal from S.H.I.E.L.D. to Germany, so she didn't know where exactly they were. But if she had to guess, she would say that they were underground.
No one noticed her exit, too caught up in following Loki's instruction to keep on working. The only person that Aster was worried about noticing her absence was Clint, but she hoped that her backup would show up before that point.
Loki swirled the scepter into a large circle and opened up yet another portal, stepping through it while continuing his stride.
Aster left the corner she was hiding behind and sprinted forward, slipping through the portal before it could fully close. They were in another location now, clearly above ground at this point with the number of windows in the new hallway.
Her heart dropped to her stomach when Loki froze in his steps and began to turn around. Aster side-stepped into a doorway, pressing her back against the wood as she held her breath. She could hear the moment that Loki began striding forward once more.
After a few moments, Aster left her hiding spot and kept tip-toeing through the hallway. She pushed past the set of double doors that Loki had to have gone through, peeking her head out and finally getting a good look at where they were.
Going by the art-painted ceilings and grand staircases, Aster could assume that Loki had transported them to a museum. She scanned the area and saw Loki skipping down the steps, heading towards the gala that was being held on the first level.
She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes in confusion when she realized that he was wearing a completely different outfit. Loki was now in a suit that fit the dress code of the event, keeping his signature green and gold accents to complete his look.
Aster didn't come out of her hiding spot until she watched Loki disappear into the crowd. She stuck out like a sore thumb in her black tactical suit, wishing that she could shrink herself at that moment.
Descending the steps to the event, Aster stopped a waiter that was standing at the bottom of the steps and smiled, scrunching her nose up. "Hi, yeah, I'm just gonna..." She took the tray of champagne from his hands, ignoring the protest he gave her while doing so.
Weaving her way through the crowd and searching for Loki, Aster handed out drinks. "Hi, need a refill?" The patrons gave her odd looks, which was probably because of her age, not the suit.
Aster released a frustrated huff when she lost track of Loki. She was about to make another round when she heard an assortment of screams come from behind her, turning to watch as the god flipped a man onto the statue in the center of the building and shoved a device directly in his eye.
The crowd around her fell into a panic, running into each other as they tried to make their way out of the building. Aster stayed within the crowd, trying to avoid getting trampled. Her hand hovered over the gun in her holster as she watched Loki's moves closely.
But she knew that as long as he had that scepter in his hands, her bullets would do nothing to take him down.
Instead of going after more of the guests, Loki peered around the room. A smile grew on his face at all the destruction he was causing, sending a shiver down Aster's spine.
He followed the crowd outside, taking slow, dominating steps to the entrance of the museum. Aster watched as his suit transformed into one that was fit for combat, with large golden horns growing at the top of his helmet.
She rushed out of the museum after him, stopping before she could cross the road when she saw Loki send a blast of energy at an approaching police car. The vehicle exploded into the air, overturning and blocking the street so that no more cars could pass.
Aster nervously gnawed at her bottom lip with her teeth. Why did she spend that much time sending a message to S.H.I.E.L.D. if they weren't even going to get there in time?
Loki somehow multiplied himself, surrounding the screaming crowd. "Kneel before me," he commanded, holding up his scepter.
When they didn't comply, Loki raised his voice an octave. "I said, KNEEL!"
The crowd gasped and followed his command, slowly shrinking to the ground in front of him. Since Aster was behind Loki, she couldn't see his face, but she could imagine the satisfaction painting his expression.
He splayed his arms out beside him, the scepter still in his right hand. "Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity. That you crab subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminished your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."
At the end of Loki's vain monologue, an elderly man from the crowd clambered to his feet, standing confidently. "Not to men like you."
Aster nervously wrung her fingers together, but a small smile overcame her lips regardless. She always loved a little rebellion.
"There are no men like me," Loki retaliated.
The old man shook his head. "There are always men like you."
Aster could practically feel the waves of frustration roll off of Loki as he began gesturing around. "Look to your elder, people." He raised his scepter and pointed the tip at the man, the end glowing a bright blue. "Let him be an example."
Not able to just stand by and watch him kill his man, Aster quickly swiped her gun from her belt and extended it out in front of her, closing one eye and aiming for Loki's scepter. If she could just nick the end of the staff, maybe it would throw off his aim and he would miss the old man.
But before Aster could fire, a patriotic blur jumped in front of the elderly man, deflecting the bout of energy with his shield. Aster lowered her gun as a laugh spilled from her lips, watching as Steve Rogers revealed himself.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."
Aster almost started to clap right then and there. For an old man, Steve was really good at the whole comeback thing.
"The soldier," Loki sneered at Steve. "The man out of time."
Steve locked eyes with Aster beyond Loki's shoulder, his expression transforming into a worried one for a moment but dissipated as soon as she gave him a firm nod. When he refocused his gaze on Loki, Steve tilted his head. "I'm not the one who's out of time."
Suddenly, a Quinjet came into view and dropped a machine gun from the bottom, aiming right at the narcissistic god. Natasha's voice floated over the PA, "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."
Instead of complying with her command, Loki reeled back and fired a burst of energy at the Quinjet. Natasha swiftly steered the aircraft out of the way, dodging the hit.
Steve decided to take action then, flinging his shield at Loki. Loki deflected the shield, but that didn't stop Steve from diving forward and engaging in combat with the Asgardian.
Aster jumped into action as well, sprinting forward just as Loki knocked Steve to the ground. She swiped Steve's shield from the ground and hurled it at Loki before he could attack Steve again, this time sending it smashing right into his lower back.
Loki stumbled over himself but stayed on his feet, hurriedly spinning around just as Aster threw herself at him.
The two traded hits for a few beats before Loki swung his scepter at Aster's nose, making the girl stumble back with a whine.
Steve jumped back to his feet and intercepted Loki from attacking her again, angrily tackling the god to the ground.
But Aster was too focused on the fact that the gentle buzz in her ears had stopped. The small weight that was sitting on her chest finally dissipated, and she knew that Loki's spell was completely gone from her system. All it took was one harsh blow.
When she raised her head once more, she saw that Loki was forcing Steve into a kneeling position with the butt of his scepter on the Captain's helmet. "Kneel."
"Not today," Steve snarled. He flung an arm up and knocked the scepter out of the way, jumping up to roundhouse kick Loki's side.
Before Aster could jump back into the fight, a loud rock song began blasting from the Quinjet's PA system.
When she recognized the song as Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC, she knew that a certain cocky billionaire was in their presence.
She and Steve simultaneously looked to the sky and watched as the Iron Man suit dove down from the sky. He fired his repulsors in both hands and sent Loki flying back.
Tony landed with one knee on the ground before standing to his full height and powering up his thrusters once more. He pointed them directly at Loki in an attempt to intimidate the god. "Make your move, Reindeer Games."
Now that Aster thought about it, he did look like a reindeer with those antlers.
Much to their surprise, Loki put his hands up by his head in surrender.
Tony lowered his weapons. "Good move."
Aster finally acknowledged the blood dripping from her nose when it started to glide over her lips and drip to the ground. She tilted her head forward just as footsteps approached her. "Aster?"
Peeking up from beneath her eyelashes, Aster grinned at the faces before her. "Hey, guys. Nice of you to come."
Tony's faceplate opened, a worried expression on his face. Steve stepped forward and gently took Aster's hand, guiding it to her nose. "Here. Keep your head tipped forward and pinch your nose—"
"I know, I know," Aster conceded. "This isn't my first rodeo, Cap."
"You okay, Ace?" Tony asked her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Fine," she waved him off. Turning back to Steve, Aster pointed at his shield. "Did you see me throw that thing? I'm a natural."
Steve just smiled and shook his head, gently pushing Aster in the direction of where the Quinjet was landing.
Tony moved to grab Loki, "Better watch out, Cap. She's coming for your mantle."
───
"Would you just hold still for one second?"
As Natasha firmly scolded her, Aster finally stopped trying to crane her head back and sneak a look at Loki.
She was sitting beside the Russian woman in the passenger's seat of the Quinjet, her legs folded over herself as she allowed Natasha to dab an antiseptic to her nose.
When Aster had first entered the Quinjet, Natasha was on her in an instant, checking her over to get a rundown of her injuries. She had dragged the eleven-year-old to the front and practically shoved her in the seat as she put the aircraft on autopilot, grabbing the first aid kit.
"I'm—"
"If the next word that comes out of your mouth is fine, you're grounded."
Aster's mouth fell open. "You can't ground me."
Natasha paused her ministrations and raised an eyebrow.
Yes, she could.
Aster clamped her mouth shut.
As Natasha finished cleaning Aster's nose, the little brunette began to ramble. "I don't know why his scepter didn't work on me. I saw it work on Clint — which, by the way, he's okay. Just not in his right mind. Anyways, I thought it would be good thinking to pretend that it did—"
"Aster," Natasha interrupted. Her voice was softer than before as she sighed. "You did the right thing. You had to think fast, and as an agent, you made a good decision. Your message saved us a lot of time and effort in tracking Loki down."
Natasha left out the part where Aster had scared her half to death. She had thought the worst when she heard that Aster was under Loki's control, and whenever she was worried, the emotion twisted into anger.
"Romanoff, you there?" Fury's voice came through the radio.
She pulled her hands from Aster's face and slipped on her headset. "Right here."
"Report."
"I've got Aster here with me and Loki has been detained."
The line was silent for a moment before Fury spoke up again. "Good. He saying anything?"
Aster turned around and looked to Steve and Tony, who both shook their head. Natasha relayed the message to Fury. "Not a word."
Fury huffed out a frustrated breath. "Just get him here. We're low on time."
Aster stood and made her way to the back, placing the first aid kit back in its compartment. Steve leaned over and lowered his voice as he spoke to Tony. "I don't like it."
Tony didn't take his eyes off of Loki. "What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"
"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop," Steve retaliated.
Aster let Steve's words sink in as she turned and looked at Loki, who was already staring at her. She held eye contact and glared for a moment before spinning back around and walking over to Steve and Tony.
"He packs a wallop 'cause he's not human," Aster told the man.
"Exactly," Tony pointed at Aster before turning back to Steve. "Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing, Pilates?"
Steve looked clueless. "What?"
"It's like calisthenics," Tony elaborated. "You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle."
Aster's eyes lit up, about to compliment Tony on the nickname until noticed the hard glare that the men were sharing.
Steve waited a moment before responding, "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."
"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."
Aster noted the distrust in Tony's tone and frowned. Why didn't he trust Fury?
The sound of thunder rumbling in the sky around them finally caused Tony and Steve to break their stare with one another and look to the windshield. Natasha was just as baffled at the sudden change of weather. "Where's this coming from?"
A sudden bolt of lightning cut through the sky, making the entire Quinjet shake with the force of its thunder. Steve caught a glimpse at Loki's fearful expression from the corner of his eye. "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?"
Loki kept his eyes on the sky. "I'm not overly fond of what follows."
That's when it clicked for Aster. Her eyes went wide as she snapped her head over to Loki.
"Oh no."
He just pursed his lips into a tight line and nodded once.
"What?" Steve asked, eyes flickering between the two. Tony and Natasha both looked just as confused.
Aster leaned to the side and searched for a certain god through the windshield. "We might be in the middle of a little family reunion."
Just as she thought, a large force of somebody landing on top of the Quinjet shook the entire aircraft. Steve grabbed Aster's arm to keep her from falling as Tony's hand shot out to brace himself on the wall.
Steve reached for his shield as Tony's faceplate covered his entire head. The billionaire strode forward and opened the hatch to the back of the Quinjet, eliciting a strong protest from Steve. "What are you—"
Once the exit ramp was fully open, Thor landed in a crouched position, his eyes locked on Loki as he stood and stalked into the jet.
Tony raised a thruster, but Thor pulled an arm back and swung his Mjolnir at the man, sending him flying across the Quinjet.
"Thor, no!" Aster yelled with her hands up, cringing as Tony crashed right into Steve and the both of them toppled to the ground.
Thor didn't seem to hear Aster over the roaring wind. He grabbed Loki from his position on the bench by his neck and pulled him from the Quinjet, using Mjolnir to fly them through the air.
Tony groaned as he stood. "And then there's him." He turned to Aster with a finger cocked towards the exit. "You know Shakespeare?"
Aster ignored his comment. "That's Loki's brother, Thor. God of Thunder."
"Is he a friendly?" Steve questioned as he pushed himself to his feet.
Aster scoffed. "He's a Golden Retriever personified. He's friendly as long as no one's in his way."
Stalking towards the exit ramp, Tony yelled over the wind. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."
Seeing that Tony was about to jump, Steve rushed after him. "Stark, we need a plan of attack!"
"I have a plan; attack."
Before anyone else could protest — not that they would, knowing that no one could tell Tony Stark what to do — he jumped out of the jet to chase after Thor.
Steve yanked a parachute from the wall and hurriedly equipped himself to follow. Natasha craned her head back and raised an eyebrow. "I'd sit this one out, Cap."
"I don't see how I can," Steve acknowledged.
"These guys come from legends. They're basically gods."
Steve grabbed his shield and slipped it onto his arm as he approached the exit ramp. "There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped.
Aster stared at the exit for a moment before she turned and faced Natasha. "Did he just ma'am you?"
Natasha cracked a smile but didn't say anything. She pressed the button to close the ramp as Aster plopped herself down on the passenger's seat. "I'm surprised you didn't follow."
Aster leaned back and kicked her feet up. "They can handle it. I don't feel like being in the middle of the testosterone-off right now."
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
aster and loki hating each other is my favorite thing to write.
i also love writing my favorite golden retriever, thor <3
anyways, i hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
see you next week!
<3 mal