⤷ may 2, 2012
━━━━━━━━━━━
The fly back is more tense than the fly to Germany. More crowded, too, with the two extra passengers with them.
Irina stays as far away from Loki as she can in the small stealth jet, pacing by the pilot seat, Steve and Tony Stark right by her.
"Is he saying anything?" Fury asks through the comm channel.
"Not a word," Romanoff responds.
"Just get him here. We're low on time."
Steve observes the god for another moment, before turning and leaning on the doorway. "I don't like it," he mutters.
"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Stark says.
"I don't remember it being that easy," Steve responds. "This guy packs a wallop."
"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow," comments Stark. He looks at Steve. "What's your thing, Pilates?
"What?" Steve says, confused.
"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle," Stark sniffs, looking the captain up and down. His comment has Irina glancing at the interaction with slightly lifted eyebrows.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in," Steve says more gruffly, choosing to ignore the comment.
Stark looks back at Loki, looking surprisingly bitter. "Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."
"He has a point," Irina speaks up. Both men's heads dart to her, Steve looking a little betrayed. She lifts her hands in small surrender. "He keeps stuff from everyone, I mean," she amends.
A rumble of thunder has her glancing out the window, growing anxious at the sudden thunder storm.
"Where's this coming from?" Romanoff mumbles.
Steve looks back at Loki, who stares up at the thunder and lightning with a worrying look. "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?"
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," drawls Loki.
His words cause Irina to glance back at him, frowning in thought, before the jet jolts, a loud noise coming from the roof. The jet shakes, before Romanoff and the pilot quickly get it steadied again.
Stark places his helmet back on his head, walking to the control board and pressing the button to open the rear hatch.
"What are you doing?" Steve demands, though is ignored by Stark as he stomps up to the opening doors. Before he can leave to check out the ruckus, a man, quite muscular, flips down from the top of the jet, even landing a pose as he looks up at them, long blonde hair billowing in the high winds.
Stark lifts his hand to blast the stranger, but is pushed back by his — hammer?
"Roberts!" Steve shouts, and Irina jolts to attention, blinking as she takes in the situation. The new block in their path stomps up to Loki, yanking him out of the chair and pulling him towards the exit of the jet.
Irina curls her fingers, pulling in energy before throwing it out at the blonde man in a red cape. The tendrils wrap around his wrist, halting him. The man turns back to her, sending her a glare that almost has her flinching back, but she holds strong.
"Sorry," she grunts, "but we need him."
"This need not concern you, mortal girl," the man says back, his voice deep and rich-sounding.
"Kind of does. Job description stuff and the like."
The man grunts, not happy with her words, and yanks his arm harshly, sending Irina to the floor, his strength far more surprising than she thought as she coughs harshly. Free from his restraints, the man swings his hammer in fast circles, before launching out into the storm.
Stark gets up with a groan. "And now there's that guy."
"Another Asgardian?" Romanoff questions.
"That guy's a friendly?" Steve asks as he approaches Irina, who is slowly getting up on her own. She waves off his offered help, clutching her stomach as it aches from the harsh tumble.
"Doesn't matter," says Stark. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." He approaches the open rear hatch doors.
"Stark," Steve calls after him, "we need a plan of attack!"
"I have a plan. Attack," Stark replies, before flying out into the storm, following after the duo of gods.
Steve lets out a frustrated sigh, walking up to one of the parachute packs and taking it off the straps, gearing up.
"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Romanoff advises from the front.
"I don't see how I can," says Steve, buckling the chute around his middle section.
"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."
"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that," Steve says, before grabbing his shield and running out the jet, jumping down to follow after Stark.
Irina lets out a puff of air. "God, I forgot he's, like, ninety years old and from the early 1900's," she says.
Romanoff eyes her from her seat. "You going after them, too?" She asks.
Irina lets out a snort, pressing a button on the control panel and watching the rear hatch close again. "I'm not fuelled by testosterone, so no. Can you fly us down?" She turns to Romanoff, whose lips flicker up into a smirk at her comment, before she gives a nod.
"On it. Let's bring us down."
𓆩*𓆪
When they fly the jet down to meet the entourage of fighting men, Irina blinks in surprise when she sees the amount of damage done to the area around them. She lets out a soft snort. "Talk about not caring about Mother Nature," she mutters.
Romanoff gives a small chuckle. "Landing now," she says. Her and the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot gently maneuvering the jet with expertise into landing.
Irina steps away from the front, pushing the button to the rear hatch and stepping up to it, watching it lower and create a ramp for the four brightly-coloured men; each with their own colour, in most ways. She takes in how beat up the other Asgardian and Stark were, and raises her eyebrows at them.
"Have a good time?" She asks them. Stark walks up first, passing her with a derisive snort.
"The best. We even made friendship bracelets."
"I almost feel left out."
Steve walks up next. "Be glad you didn't come down," he mutters, placing his shield on his back.
Irina smirks at him. "I'm glad I didn't come down," she says.
Steve sends her a brief smile, before passing her to go meet Romanoff at the front. She watches the two gods come up next, the blonde having a solid grip on Loki, who looked beyond amused at the entire situation. The taller god stops in front of her, practically towering over her with his large stature.
"I want to apologize for earlier, my lady," he says. "I was overcome with anger. I should not have treated you so roughly."
Irina lets out a small cough at the title. "My lady". She'd never been called anything close to that in her life — except for, perhaps, Steve's "ma'am".
She sends the god a brief smile. "I don't blame you for it, don't worry. Call me Emma. Emma Roberts," she introduces herself.
The blonde smiles, beaming in relief at her forgiveness. "Thor Odinson, Prince of Asgard, Protector of Midgard, and God of Thunder," he returns. "Thank you, Lady Emma," Thor says, before passing her with a grunting Loki.
Irina blinks in surprise at the titles. She'll definitely shorten that. Definitely just to Thor, she thinks. She shuts the rear hanger door again, turning around as the chaotically assembled team readies to finally return to the helicarrier.
Her eyes dart worriedly to Loki, who catches her eyes from across the hanger, and sends her a stomach-churning smile.
𓆩*𓆪