📍STUTTGART, GERMANY
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(Y/N) would never forget the thrill of flying an aircraft, the excitement and rush filling her veins as she held onto the cockpit controller and spared through the air. Now, it had been ages since she'd last flew a plane herself, but those feelings described earlier didn't wash off; instead, they grew even stronger.
Natasha was by her side as a copilot, meanwhile Steve was in the back with his new suit on, which was the classic red, white and blue suit from before, accompanied with the memorable shield in his hand.
"You know, if the situation calls for it, you may have to interfere with those mysterious abilities of yours," Natasha muttered after a long period of silence in the jet.
(Y/N)'s only flickered from the sky to Natasha for a millisecond, but all she did was laugh and shake her head. "Not gonna happen, Romanoff."
Natasha threw her head back in frustration but she was still focused on flying the jet and keeping steady along with (Y/N). "Oh, come on. Can't I at least get a hint of how it looks like? There's no footage in your file."
"You went through my file?!"
"For research purposes," the redhead defended.
(Y/N) looked down on the small screen of the cockpit controller before she continued. "Imagine blinding light. That's all I can say."
Natasha didn't seem satisfied, and she would've completely forgotten about the presence of Steve Rogers if she hadn't looked behind her shoulder for one second to find him awkwardly listening to the conversation from his seat.
She gave him a thin smile. "We're nearly there."
"I apologize for our demeanor," (Y/N) spoke leaning her head back but not removing her eyes away from the sky before her.
Steve nodded. "It's okay. Are you always like this?"
"Usually, she's unpleasant to work with — " (Y/N) received a slap in the arm by Natasha and she had to muffle down her laugh. "But she'll grow on you."
"I could say the same thing."
(Y/N) wasn't sure if Steve was just being friendly and nice about the entire thing, but she swore she saw the smallest hint of nostalgia and remembrance flashing in his eyes, and she could relate to that feeling; not quite fitting in after being thrown back into the world ( in her case, it was literal, she still has the bruise of the crash ) and she wanted to help the same way she had help too.
A few minutes after that, the jet began closing in and losing altitude, arriving to the supposed location of Loki. (Y/N) pressed a button on the controller to open the rear hatch of the jet and allow Steve to jump out, since she could see a crowd of people gathering around the front part of the building and she knew it didn't mean anything good.
Steve jumped right in front of an elderly man, using his shield to block the blue blast of Loki's scepter, and he stood up from his kneeling position to walk forward.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."
"The soldier," Loki said in a breathless voice after the blast had knocked him down. "The man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time."
The jet appeared right above the area, and Natasha raised a hand above her head to click on a button and activate the PA, while (Y/N) released the gun from below the jet.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," Natasha ordered in a firm voice.
There was no verbal response, instead, Loki raised the scepter in anger and fired another blast at the jet. (Y/N) and Natasha were able to swerve out of the way before the jet got hit and caused any other problems. Once they both had steadied the aircraft after that strong dodge, they were able to lower it in the same position it was before, and see how Steve had engaged in a fight with Loki, making all the other civilians run out of the place in fear and not looking back.
"The guy's all over the place," Natasha said in a preoccupied tone before she looked sideways. "Maybe you need to go down there."
(Y/N) opened her mouth to protest but before she could, that obnoxious, unpleasant and last voice she wanted to hear at that moment blasted through the speaker of the jet, overriding the system.
"Agent Romanoff. You missed me?" Tony Stark questioned smugly, a rock song playing in the background.
Natasha smirked at the recognition of his voice and at his words, but mostly, the reaction in (Y/N)'s face once she realized who it was made it even better.
"Why is he like this?" (Y/N) questioned.
Natasha couldn't help but smirk. "I bet you're having the best day of your life."
The outline of the Iron Man suit flying through the sky was visible to Loki and Steve down on the ground, seeing the trail of smoke that it was leaving behind as he got closer to the floor. Just as he was about to set foot on the ground, Tony raised a palm and a blast threw Loki back into a set of stairs, throwing him back.
Tony landed on his knee and stood up, both arms raised up and other weapons popping from the back of his suit. "Make your move, Reindeer Games."
Steve strapped his shield back in his arm and joined Tony's side as Loki raised his palms in surrender. The golden armor and helmet he had on disappeared in thin air and left only his black and green gown.
"Good move."
"Mr. Stark," Steve greeted.
"Captain," Tony replied in the same tone.
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Steve and Tony were able to get Loki inside the jet without any problems, handcuffing the god without a single sound of protest from him, it was almost suspicious. (Y/N) and Natasha were still sat on the cockpit of the jet and were flying the plane back to the helicarrier.
The look of surprise on Tony's face when he recognized (Y/N) on the jet was comical, and he would've commented anything about it to set her off, but he saw how focused she looked on flying the jet and didn't know why he decided to let her be; that look of concentration almost knocked him off guard.
"Is he saying anything?" Fury spoke through the radio.
"Not a word."
"Just get him here," Fury ordered. "We're low on time."
Steve had his hands on the belt of his suit, standing in the back part of the jet, where him and Tony were keeping an eye on Loki until they got to the helicarrier.
"I don't like it," he whispered, lowering his tone but it being loud enough for Tony to hear him.
"What, Rock of Ages, giving up so easily?"
"I don't remember it that easy," Steve muttered, looking back. "This guy packs a wallop."
"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow," Tony commented. "What's your thing, Pilates?"
"What?"
"It's like calisthenics," the genius explained, shrugging his shoulders, or at least trying so, because his suit was bulk enough to hide that. "You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle."
The losing of Steve's patience was evident in his eyes. "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."
"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you," Tony retorted.
(Y/N) tried to keep her grip on the controllers after the jet gave a slight shake because of the thunder outside. Clouds were closing in and lightning was crackling over them, and this instantly caused Natasha to frown in her seat.
"Where's this coming from?" she questioned, looking around her as the jet shook again.
Loki's demeanor had changed from the first sound of the lightning crackling, anxiously looking up like he was waiting for something to happen.
"What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?" Steve asked him.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki told him and went back to flickering his gaze on the roof.
Some time passed, more lightning clapped outside and (Y/N) concentrated on keeping the jet steady from all the noises, but suddenly another thud made the entire aircraft shake, this time with much more force than before. Everyone looked up at the same time because the impact had come from right above them, so this alerted Tony and Steve to brace themselves.
Tony placed his helmet on and clicked on the rear hatch opening button, just as Steve was placing his own helmet on too.
"What are you doing?"
Tony took only two steps towards the rear hatch before someone landed in front of him and blocked his way, a tall man with blond hair that reached his shoulders. He wore a silver and black armor with a long red cape flowing behind him, and in his hand, he carried a heavy hammer. Tony had no idea who he was, but the look on Loki's eyes when he spotted him meant that he did know him, and it meant no good.
The man delivered a punch directly into Tony's chest with the hammer, throwing him back to the floor to buy him time to grab Loki from his seat and hold him with a firm grip by the neck. Without any hesitation, the blond jumped out of the jet with Loki in hand, disappearing into the clouds and lightning.
"And now there's that guy," Tony regained his footing.
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha asked loudly from all the noise the thunder was making.
Steve still couldn't believe what he just witnessed. "That guy's a friendly?"
"Doesn't matter," Tony responded. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!"
"I have a plan," Tony walked back to the rear hatch and was ready to jump. "Attack."
Steve sighed a heavy breath as he saw Tony jump out of the jet in the same direction he'd seen the other go, leaving the trail of smoke behind. Steve didn't waste another second and grabbed a spare parachute and began to strap it on carefully.
"I don't know if that's a good idea, Cap," (Y/N) told him once she realized what he was doing.
"I don't see how I can," he replied while adjusting the belts around his chest.
"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods," Natasha tried to convince him.
"There's only one God, ma'am," Steve dropped his hands once the chute was adjusted properly. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."
He grabbed his shield that was leaning on the wall and jumped out of the plane just like the two others, and now only (Y/N) and Natasha were the ones left on the jet.
Natasha was ready to open her mouth and remind (Y/N) of their last conversation but she was cut off before she could utter out anything.
"We're gonna let the men solve this one out," (Y/N) said casually.
"We're gonna let them have their little fight and see if they bring Loki back?"
"Exactly."