I had just arrived and the place looked fancy.
Fury let me get off first and scope out the place. I'm supposed to let them know when to come in.
So far no one suspects me. Although I'm wearing my suit, the illusion of the fancy dress and makeup is fairly well.
"Do you see him?" I hear Cap ask through my earpiece.
"Not yet."
I strolled around and I kept to myself.
I thought that perhaps he left until I glanced up and saw him there. In the flesh. With what looked to be the scepter. I knew it was just that because it was glowing bright blue. He was wearing a nicely fitted suit and his hair was done well. Almost how he used to have it. Slicker back.
No doubt it's all an illusion. Just as mine.
He doesn't notice me. He comes walking down the steps and in my trance I almost forget to let everyone know.
"I see him."
"Where is he?" Nat asks.
"He's walking down the grand stairs. He hasn't spotted me. I'm keeping my distance."
"Good. Just keep watching and let us know when."
"Roger that."
He walks by and a man that has been speaking to everyone turns around and faces him.
Loki strikes a guard with his scepter and grabs the man. I watch in shock as he tosses him onto a grand artifact table and pulls out a device.
It starts to glow blue and spin absurdly. He doesn't hesitate to pierce the man with the device right on his eyeball. I watch as the man thrashes in pain and everyone runs away screaming in horror.
I stay long enough to see that despicable smile of his. As if he's enjoying every moment of it.
"Okay, it's time," I tell them.
I start to walk out fast and turn the building. Letting my illusion fade.
I creep around to see that his did as well. I now see his very familiar armor on. His horns that look greater than I remembered and his scepter that looks greatly more intimidating than it looked as a cane.
He looks down the road as he crosses the street and uses his scepter to strike a cop car coming in full force. He manages to send it flipping forward.
Hell! I need to step in but my hands are shaking and my hearts racing. I haven't seen him in ages and now I'm supposed to stop him?
I know I'm strong but I have never once dared to think of myself stronger than him.
Equals probably but now..he has an advantage.
"Kneel before me!"
I look around and notice he's got everyone from the building outside in a crowd.
"I said," he goes smashing his scepter into the ground illuminating a blue aura. "KNEEL!"
Damn my cowardliness.
"Madegn, you're up!" Fury calls through the earpiece. Pushing me to hurry before Loki does anything much graver.
"Is not this simpler?" He goes and I cast an illusion so he cannot see me as I walk closer to the scene.
"Is this not your natural state?"
I try my best to ignore the absurdities that he is spewing because otherwise, I'm not sure I can go through with this.
"It's the unspoken truth of humanity. That you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes 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."
It's silent for a moment. Only the sounds of people breathing hardly all around. Most likely scared to death. That is until a voice speaks up
"Not to men like you," I turn to see a man stand and say.
Oh, what are you doing old man?
For Odins' sake, I'm going to have to jump in sooner than I had hoped.
"There are no men like me," Loki retorts with a grin.
"There are always men like you," the man responds.
"Look to your elder people. Let him be an example," he says as he points his scepter at the man.
Damn!
I rush in just as he shoots at the man and I create a force field that causes the blue power to ricochet back to Loki.
I turn back to the man and the rest of the civilians who look up at me in awe.
I turn back to see Loki's expression of pure rage as he stands back up from ducking the blow.
He finally meets my face and I swore that for that moment. It seemed as though he dropped the facade for a moment and all I saw was the scared Loki I'd come to know very well.
"Sage."
I'm taken aback by his voice clear as day in my mind.
I try my best to ignore it and push him away.
"Enough Loki," I say with all the determination and confidence that was missing only a moment ago.
I will not let him see me cower.
He seemed speechless for a moment until the darkness in his eyes returned and he slowly, almost hesitantly, started lifting his spear to blast me until something comes hitting him sending him flying backward.
I notice it to be Caps shield as it ricochets back to him.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."
I watch as Loki sees him and me and smiles widely. As if we're something amusing to witness.
Immediately after Cap got here everyone started to run and scatter away.
"The soldier," he goes chuckling before getting up with the help of his scepter. "The man out of time," he says before looking at me. "And you..."
Cap looks at me confused before focusing back on Loki and responding.
"I'm not the one who's out of time."
Nat arrives at the perfect moment in the jet and releases the gun from the jet before giving Loki a warning.
He doesn't waste another second and he shoots a surge of energy toward the jet.
She moves away in time and Steve jumps forward to attack him with his shield.
"Are you alright?" I ask quickly through the earpiece to Nat.
"Fine. Go on and do your thing," she tells me.
I turn and see that he's striking caps shield with his scepter before striking him altogether.
Just as Steve falls I don't waste a second as I shoot bolts of my energy his way. Sending him reeling back.
He looks at me with such wrath before shooting energy from the scepter toward me.
I use my teleportation to appear behind him as I blast him from the back.
He falls forward but it doesn't do much as he turns around on his knees and tries to blast me again.
I bring up my force field and that same energy shoots toward him but he ducks.
Just then Cap comes jumping back and fighting him off.
This time I don't hesitate to step in and help by shooting magic at him every time he has a free shot to retaliate.
He then uses full force to hit Cap in the face with his scepter sending him falling back and just as I'm about to blast him he rushes to me and grabs me by the throat and teleports away. Far enough that Cap or anyone can't bother us for a least a little longer.
I'm not fazed by the disappearance but his grip on my throat is really strong. He's making it pretty difficult to breathe.
As soon as we land at a park nearby he throws me to the ground.
I start to cough uncontrollably as I try to catch my breath.
"I will say, I didn't expect to see you fighting alongside the Avengers," he says their team name like it's a joke.
I finally have myself together as I look at him in dismay.
"I don't want to fight you Loki," I tell him truthfully as I stand up.
"Of course not. Let's not kid ourselves, Sage. You are no match for me, certainly not now. Do not bring this upon yourself."
I shake my head standing straighter.
"I can't let you go on with your plan."
He nearly glares at me. Confused.
"Why? What are these mortals to you? Why care so greatly?"
"Because they are people. People like you and I."
"I am a god," he spits in anger. As if comparing him to a mortal was the worse I could ever do.
"The only god you are very well is the god of mischief. You and your never-ending tricks."
He smirks as he walks around me.
"You would know that better than anyone."
I just tilt my head as if to say 'damn straight.'
Once he's in front of me again I notice his face soften a bit as he looks into my eyes.
"Why not join me then?" He asks catching me by surprise.
"What?"
"Join me, Sage," he says walking up to me.
The way he's looking at me is something similar to how he used to look at me many years ago.
"You and me. We can rule this planet. We needn't answer to anyone. It'll just be you and I. As it was meant to be," he says getting even closer to me. Enough that I can see how bright his eyes are shining.
"This isn't you," I say before blasting him with my powers.
He lands far ahead and I teleport to him. He dropped the scepter and I try to grab it but before I can I feel my brain explode in itself as I fall to the ground in pain.
"What're you doing?!" I shout in pain as I look at him.
I look as he's contorting his hand almost like every move his fingers make I can feel in my head.
"Enough," is all he says in a hauntingly low voice.
"You did this to yourself."
I hear in my head clear as day again.
Just as I scream one final time the pain subsides and I hear a loud sound shoot across the park.
I look up to see Tony there in his suit and he had shot Loki.
He unmasks himself and looks at me concerned.
"You alright Sage?"
I nod and look back at Loki who's on the floor. Tony aims both his hands at Loki. Both of which are ready to blast him. I stand up shortly after and I notice Cap come running to us ready to fight as well.
Loki looks at all of us but mainly me as he conjures his heavy armor away and raises his hands in surrender.
I'm taken aback by this action given what he just did but he keeps his eyes on me firmly nonetheless.
Tony brings his arms down.
"Mr. Stark," Rogers greets him; winded.
"Captain," Tony retorts.
We stay there for a bit as Tony grabs him and brings him to his feet.
Not too long after, Nat comes in with her jet, and we hall him in as we climb on swiftly behind them.
On the ride there he's pretty quiet. I sit across from him glaring. He gives me his passive stare. Never wavering.
I don't miss his eyes trailing my whole body as he takes in my suit.
I look away to Tony and the rest of them speaking. I don't make a move to get up though.
"Can you hear me?"
I snap my head towards him causing a smirk to arise.
I've been trying to ignore how easily he's seemed to find his way back into my mind.
"Get out of my head!"
"Oh, but this is fun is it not? I don't remember being able to speak so easily with you before."
I narrow my eyes and look away from him.
"Get out of my head, Loki."
It was quiet in my mind for a bit until he spoke up again.
"I knew I'd see you."
I turned to him in confusion.
I don't want to feed into his games but I can't help my curiosity.
"You knew I was here?"
He smiles devilishly.
"Oh, Sage. Of course I did. I've been watching you."
He's lying.
I know that from the way he acted upon seeing me back in Germany. As if he'd seen a ghost.
"Liar."
"I haven't been stalking you in person but I've had someone let me know where you were at all times."
I turn to him unsure.
"I'll say, I am surprised you decided to reside in New York for over a year after practically traveling the world. What made you stay? I wonder.."
His brows wrinkled together in confusion and curiosity.
I feel my hands get clammy and my heart starts to pick up its pace.
I use everything I could in my power to push him out of my mind. I put a wall up as I've done it many times before.
With that, I get up and walk to Tony and Cap. Ignoring his stare that's burning into the back of my head.
They were talking amongst each other still when I walked up.
"This guy packs a wallop," Cap says as I chime in.
"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow," Tony adds.
We both look at him confused and awkwardly.
"What's your thing, Pilates?"
"What?" Both cap and ask simultaneously.
Tony sighs.
"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."
I look at Rogers who looks very annoyed.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."
No surprise there.
"Yeah. There's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you," he goes before looking at me. "Or me."
They all turn to look at me somewhat confused. Even Nat for a second.
"When exactly were you going to tell us you had magical powers now?" Tony asks seeming annoyed.
"It is no one's business but mine. I asked Fury to keep it between him and I."
Tony looks almost hurt.
"You couldn't tell me?" He asks in a lower tone.
I look away at Loki to see he's ignoring us and looking forward.
"So what? You know him?" He asks and I see Loki turn to me.
I stare at the man I've known for a long portion of my life and don't recognize the boy I got to know.
This is someone else entirely.
I shake my head.
"No. I don't," I look away from him to Nat who is turned to me for a second before the sudden thunder and lightning starts to shoot from the sky.
"Where is this coming from?" Nat asks looking worried.
I don't think much of it until I turn to Loki who seems more on edge. More alert.
"What's the matter? You scared of a little lightning?" Rogers mocks.
Loki looks at me and back at them.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," he counters before looking above as if waiting for something.
Or someone.
Not even a minute later there's a loud thump coming from the top of the jet as we shake momentarily.
We all look on alert but knowing who it is I don't feel too particularly nervous. More along the lines of annoyance.
We continue to shake and Tony opens the jet to take care of who's out there and as soon as it's completely opened, there along comes Thor.
I turn to Loki who looks a bit nervous and turns to me.
Tony tries to shoot Thor with his arm weapon but Thor quickly uses his hammer to send him tumbling back.
He doesn't acknowledge me. I'm sure he doesn't recognize me.
He just walks past us and grabs Loki by the throat before jumping out of the plane.
"And then there's that guy," Tony says.
"Another Asgardian?!" Nat chimes in.
"That guys a friendly?" Cap asks.
"Doesn't matter," Tony argues. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseracts lost."
He starts heading to the hatch before Cap shouts.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack."
"I have a plan. Attack."
I watch not sure whether I should go until Tony flies out the jet heading in the direction Thor took Loki.
"Damn," I spit before looking at Cap.
He looks at me cautiously and I quickly teleport out of there.