After capturing Loki and running into his brother Thor, Steve tried to piece together what happened to Freya while Fury got Loki situated in his cell.
"The last thing I remember was her jumping off a train to try and see my friend. This was ripped from her before I could save her" Steve said, holding the familiar cloak in his hands.
"Our people think she is dead. But a fall like that would not have killed her" Thor said.
Natasha handed them over her file. "According to this, she was taken by HYDRA. They used the Tesseract to build the coffin they kept her in. Kept her from waking up."
"And now she is under Loki's control. He wishes to be King, with Freya ruling at his side" Thor said.
"What do you mean?" Steve asked.
"He is in love with her. He always has been" Thor said.
"He's using the scepter to control her mind. Make her do things she would never want to do. That isn't love" Steve said.
"Her sword," Thor said. "Where is it?"
"I don't think S.H.I.E.L.D. ever found it," Steve said.
"Hey, guys. He's on" Banner said, gesturing to the monitors showing Loki trapped in the cage that was meant for the Hulk.
"It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant" Fury said gesturing to Loki. "Boot," he said, looking back to the control panel for the cell.
Loki laughed as he looked at Fury. "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury said.
"Oh, I've heard," Loki said, looking into the camera. "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man."
Everyone glanced toward Banner who shifted uncomfortably.
"How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki asked.
"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did" Fury said.
"Ooh," Loki taunted. "It burns you to have to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is."
Fury smirked as he turned to walk away. "Well, let me know if real power wants a magazine or something."
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎
After hearing from Tony and Banner that Fury might be hiding something Steve took a look around the ship and found something that unfortunately proved that Tony was right.
Walking into the lab, he took the HYDRA weapons in one hand and Freya's sword in the other, slamming it onto the table.
"I thought you didn't know where her sword was. What else aren't you telling me?" Steve asked.
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract, that included Freya. We didn't know how to wake her up but we were working on it" Fury said.
"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit" Steve said as Thor and Natasha walked in.
"Where did you get this?" Thor asked, picking up the sword. "This does not belong to any of you."
"S.H.I.E.L.D," Steve said.
"Did you know about this?" Banner asked Natasha, gesturing to the screen that Tony pulled up, showing that they had been using the Tesseract to try and make weapons.
"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha asked him.
"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed" Banner scoffed.
"Loki is manipulating you," Natasha said.
"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Banner asked.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha said.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction" Banner said.
"Because of him," Fury said, gesturing to Thor.
"Me?" Thor asked.
"70 years ago someone showed up claiming to be from another planet. Saying that she was here to help," Fury said. "Then last year, Earth had another visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."
"Our people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor said.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled" Fury said.
"Like you're trying to control the cube?" Steve asked him.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. You kept Freya here like she was treasure that you found. You are lucky that Asgard did not bring it armies here after learning what happened" Thor said.
"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something" Fury said.
"A nuclear deterrent. Because that always calm's everything right down" Tony said.
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark" Fury said.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-"
"Wait, wait. Hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony asked.
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this" Thor scoffed.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury asked.
"You treat your champions with such mistrust," Thor said.
"They're not my champions!" Fury said.
"Are you boys really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats" Natasha said.
"Captain America's on threat watch?" Banner asked.
"We all are," Natasha said.
On a small jet a few feet away from the helicarrier they were in, Freya stood with Barton and the other men under Loki's control.
"You sure you don't want a gun or something?" Clint asked.
"My things are on that ship. I can feel it" Freya told him.
Thinking that the small jet nearby was one of their own, no one on board paid any attention to it.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor said.
"That's his M.O., isn't it?" Banner asked. "I mean what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."
"You need to step away," Fury said to him.
"Why should the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked, placing his hand on Steve's shoulder.
"You know damn well why. Back off!" Steve exclaimed, brushing Tony's arm away.
"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony said.
"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off what are you?" Steve asked, ignoring her.
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist" Tony shrugged.
"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play. To lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you" Steve said.
"I think I would just cut the wire," Tony said.
"Always a way out" Steve smirked. "You may not be a threat but stop pretending to be a hero."
"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle" Tony said.
Hearing metal clattering behind them, they all turned to see Freya's sword shaking as it lay on the table.
"Is it supposed to do that?" Natasha asked.
"No," Thor said. "Not unless-"
Suddenly an explosion went off, and a burst of fire blasted through the vents below them, sending them all in different directions.
Standing on the ledge of the opening created by the explosion, Freya held out her hand as her sword flew off the table in the lab and straight through the walls of the ship and into her palm.
Now having her weapon, Freya smiled as she made her way into the helicarrier while Barton took the rest of his crew through the top vents.
She could sense that her cape was close and headed in that direction, wanting to have all of her things back before she found Loki.
About to push open the door that led to the inside of the carrier from the engine room, Freya stood still as the door flew open.
Steve stared at her like he was looking at a ghost. He knew she'd be here. He knew that he'd run into her eventually and he'd have to figure out how to help her escape Loki's hold.
But he didn't think it'd be now. "Freya?" he asked.
Freya glared at him, punching him across the face. He stumbled back as she kicked him through the door.
"Cap? Where are you?" he heard Tony ask, through his comms.
"Give me a second" Steve groaned, barely dodging Freya's sword as she lunged at him.
"Freya. It's me. It's Steve" he said, pushing himself up.
"I know who you are. I was trying to help you and you betrayed me" she said, as Steve grabbed a metal panel off the wall and used it as a shield to block her sword but she sliced right through it.
"That's not what happened. Loki is tricking you!" he said, grabbing her arm and trying to pin her to the wall.
"Loki would never do that to me," she said, head-butting him as he stumbled back and she kicked him to the ground. "I have to go find him, but I promise, I'll be back to kill you later."
She took off down the hall and Steve was about to follow after him when he heard Tony calling for him in his comms. He groaned, knowing that if he didn't help him, the carrier was going down and they'd all be doomed.
Freya continued running down the hall toward the detention level where Barton told her Loki would be. As she made her way through the ship she spotted her cape lying under a chair that had been knocked over through the explosion.
Smiling, she let out a small whistle as it pulled itself from under the grip of the chair before flying over and wrapping itself around her neck.
"I missed you," she said, running her hands over the feathers before she made her way to Loki's cell.
"What took you so long?" he asked when he saw her.
"I had to pick up a few things," she said, gesturing to her sword and cape.
Walking over to the panel that was keeping the door closed she entered in the code Clint gave her. Loki smiled as the door opened and he walked right out.
"Are you alright?" she asked as he walked over to her.
"Never better. Everything is going exactly to plan" he said, pulling her into a kiss. As he pulled away he sensed someone coming around the corner. "Hold that thought."
Casting an illusion of himself, he appeared back inside the cage. Thor came running up, thinking he was about to escape.
"No!" he shouted, running at him but fell right through the illusion and Freya shut the door behind him.
"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Loki asked.
Thor used his hammer and hit the glass, causing a crack to form as the whole thing shook. Loki laughed as he watched his brother struggle.
"Freya, please. This isn't you" Thor said, looking at her.
"You knew where I was. For 70 years and you left me here to rot" Freya sneered.
"Please. I thought you dead. And my father-"
"Do not speak of Odin to me. It is his fault I was in this realm to clean up his mess. To find something that he left here. Odin is not fit to rule Asgard and neither are you" she said.
Loki smiled as she stood next to her at the control panel. "The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?"
Before Loki could open the hatch, another guard who was standing nearby fell to the ground.
Loki and Freya looked up as Coulson walked over, holding a large gun to them. "Step away please," he said.
Freya and Loki slowly stepped back as Coulson walked closer. "You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does" he said, powering up the weapon. "Want to find out?"
Loki used his illusion to appear behind Coulson, shoving his spear right through him.
"No!" Thor shouted, unable to stop him from inside the cell.
"Freya. Darling. Please get rid of him" Loki said, gesturing to Thor.
Freya nodded, walking back over to the panel.
"Freya. Freya, don't. You don't have to listen to him" Thor said.
Freya looked at Thor with a genuine confusion. "Yes I do," she said, before pressing the button that opened the hatch and sending Thor plummeting 30,000 feet.