Part Two. Chapter Nineteen.
In Germany.
“Agent Selvig!” Fury called out, forcing me to stop in my tracks. I turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. Why was he wasting time? Natasha was already gone, preparing the hover craft for us and Steve was suiting up, and here I am still not even changed.
“There has been a change of plans.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. It’s only been a few minutes, and there wasn’t really a plan other than to get to Loki before he could do harm.
“He wants you to find him, not us.”
“Okay…,” I trailed off, not knowing exactly where he was going.
“In other words, I am allowing you to use your powers to get there quicker and try to reason with him before we step in. You will borrow one of Agent Romanoff’s dresses for this.” Fury said and then dismissed me.
My eyes lit up at his new plan, and I couldn’t agree with it more. I wanted to be the one to see him first and talk to him, without an audience. Rushing to Natasha’s room, I grabbed the first dress I saw and changed into it. The dress was long and a dark green, fitting me a bit too tight for my liking but I had to push that aside. That didn’t matter.
A soft knock interrupted my process.
“Come in,” I called, glancing towards the door. It was Steve. I smiled at him, taking in his red, white and blue form fitting suit. He raised an eyebrow at the dress. “Fury wants me to try and reason with Loki before you and Natasha show up. He thought it’d be better if I dressed up for the occasion.”
Steve’s expression fell and he nodded. “Of course he would.”
I glanced down at his hand which held his shield, his knuckles white since he was gripping it tightly. “Is that your shield?” I asked in wonder, trying to lighten up the mood. Steve nodded, showing it off to me in a humble manner. “May I?”
Steve nodded once again and the tip of my fingers lightly grazed the cool adamantium and vibranium metal. I’ve heard all about his shield thanks to Phil. It’s made out of the strongest metal, durable enough for just about everything. “One of a kind,” I murmured and glanced up at Steve whose gaze was on me the whole time. “Just like you.”
His blue eyes lit up and a small blush crept up on his cheeks as it did in mine. Did I really just say that? He then smiled at me, lightly shaking his head. “You’re special, Astryd,” he mumbled, clearly not knowing what else to say. I didn’t know whether to be flattered or not…
“Why thank you.” I smiled, curtsying as I did so. Steve chuckled and I laughed. I heard someone clear their throat and I jumped startled. Both Steve and I turned to see Phil standing in the doorway awkwardly.
“The hover craft is ready.” He said and then left.
“I have to go.” Steve said.
“See you in Germany, Captain.” I grinned, saluting him. He chuckled, but returned the gesture before leaving. Glancing at the mirror, I realized that I needed to do something with my hair and I needed to it quick. I hastily pinned one side of my hair up, drooping all of it to the other side in my natural curls. I didn’t even bother much with the make-up, just wanting to get to Germany already.
With one last glance in the mirror, I took a deep breath. “Come on, you can do this,” I encouraged myself. I then closed my eyes, picturing the image of Loki I had seen earlier and concentrating the best I could on his surroundings.
I felt the energy rush through me as if I were a complete circuit. Blue hazes surrounded me, providing me with comfort as I found myself zooming through nothing but darkness. It was a feeling like no other, one that I would never get used to. I felt weightless, as if I were floating, and before I knew it, I was where I wanted to be.
I was in a heavily air conditioned elegant building. The walls were elegantly built and the floor a brilliant marble. I stumbled a bit over the hem of the dress, glad that I had taken a pair of flats with me instead of heels. I would’ve been stumbling over my own feet instead of the dress then. A few glances were sent my way from the young men, but I ignored them. My eyes wandered around the room in search of a familiar pale face.
“We’re on our way.” Steve informed through my ear piece.
The sweet sound of violins being played made their way to my ears as I pushed past people. Where could he be? Look up. I did, and my heart skipped a beat. There he was. His hands gripping the balcony rail for support as his eyes searched for someone in the crowd. Who was he looking for?
“Okay. I just spotted him.” I whispered back to Steve. My pace quickened as I knew exactly where to go now. I pushed and shoved, not caring to say “excuse me” anymore. Walking out of the huge crowd of people filled me with relief since I could finally breathe comfortably again. I stopped at the foot of the stairs, knowing that he’d have to come down at some point.
I watched warily as Loki skidded down the stairs in ease. He stopped at the resting point, finally sensing someone. Glancing up, his pale blue eyes met with mine and he froze. I could’ve sworn his eyes were green before…
A smirk then made its way to his face and he continued on his way down. I couldn’t even process right now. He’s alive. He was paler and seemed a bit sick, but he is very much alive. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he hooked his arm with mine and escorted me down the hall, as if we had seen each other every day of our lives. I watched him in disbelief as he so. I should’ve known better than to expect a happy reunion. This is Loki.
He pulled me closer to him and whispered into my ear. “I told you I’d come back for you.”
“You returned for the tesseract, not me.” I solemnly replied. My heart broke a little when he didn’t even object or try to. The small part of me that thought that he had come for me was crushed. I should’ve known better…
I stopped letting him guide me, pulling him back with me. “I thought you were dead.”
His dark façade faded, his expression falling. It was quickly replaced by a grin and a menacing chuckle. “Did you mourn?”
“Of course I did!” I exclaimed and he sent me a look of surprise. Did he honestly believe that I wouldn’t care? His death impacted me hard. “I thought I had lost you. You are my brother and I love you.”
Loki grimaced when I called him my brother, and his fingers tightly gripped my shoulders. “I am not and will never be your brother.” He hissed. He then pushed me away, leaving me behind in awe.
“If you excuse me, I have some business to take care of,” he said over his shoulder, not bothering to look at me. There goes my happy reunion, I thought miserably. Where was the Loki that I had met last time?
“Loki!” I called after him, picking up the tight skirt of the dress as best I could to run after him. I should’ve thought twice about picking a long dress. He played with the scepter he obtained in his hand, quickening his pace instead of listening to me. The scepter flew to his right hand, and he kept it there for a moment. Slowly, he brought up his hand arm and swung harshly at one of the security guards, knocking him out immediately.
My eyes widened, and before I could do anything else, the second security guard fell to the floor. All eyes were on him at that moment. Screams and gasps filled the room, only exciting Loki further. “Are you alright? We’re almost there.” Steve asked through the ear pierce.
“I’m fine. I got to go.” I whispered hurriedly. My hand gripped the neckline of Loki’s suit and I yanked him back towards me. He turned around to face me, smirking and laughing.
“Not now.” He threatened, scolding me as if I were a child.
“You don’t have to do this. I can help you, just let me.” I begged.
He shrugged my hand off of his shoulder and in one swift movement, grabbed a hold of one of the men in the crowd dragging him towards the flat part of a marble statue. Not wanting to use my powers, I used all my strength and yanked him backwards again. This time, he landed on the floor staring up at me in shock and anger. The look he gave me overwhelmed me with guilt and regret. I can’t harm him. Steve’s impression of me was right. I can’t hurt a fly, even if I tried, especially when that fly is Loki.
“This doesn’t have to get any messier, Loki.”
“Oh, but it does.”
Catching me off guard, he raised his scepter at me and shot. A gasp escaped my lips as I was sent flying and crashed into the cold, hard stone wall that was on the other side of the room. I was hurt more emotionally than physically. The right side of the stomach part of my dress burned off, and so did my skin. My eyes widened in horror as I watched a blue gel-like substance cover the deep gash and immediately heal it. As soon as it healed, my body rushed overwhelmingly with adrenaline and power and I fought, trying my best to keep myself in control.
Now is not the time to go off, Astryd.
A scream snapped my attention back to the scene. I ran, the people parting for me like the red sea as I did so. I reached Loki in a matter of seconds, but was too late. The man lay still, not struggling anymore. Loki’s eyes glanced around, his sickening smirk widening as he took in the horrified looks the people were giving him. His eyes then landed on me.
“This is madness, Loki,” I cried, stirring something in him.
“Is it? Is it madness?” He growled.
With the scepter gripped firmly in his hand, he began to walk away from the scene. I followed hot in his pursuit. “What happened to the Loki I last saw?”
“He’s gone.”
The scepter in his hand gleamed a familiar blue. The tesseract. His weapon of destruction is powered by the same thing that powers me. My eyes squinted, a bright golden light blinding me for a moment. When I regained my vision, I noticed Loki was now dressed in his full formal armor.
He walked forward, stepping out of the building and into the street. The people scurried away from him, clearing his path and adding to his ego. I stood at the entrance of the building distraught. You think you know a person and then you find out you really don’t. He pointed his scepter towards a police car and shot out at it before it could reach him as he crossed the street. I tore the dress I wore up, so I could run and rushed towards the police car. Using my hands, I willed myself to allow the police car to land smoothly on the floor feeling the tesseract’s energy course through my veins. Out of the corner of my eyes, I realized my skin was changing into a pale blue just like it always does when using my powers.
The car landed gently onto the floor, and I punched the jammed police car door, allowing the policemen to step out. They both jumped out, sending me thankful wide eyed looks. I sent them a nod before turning back to Loki who now stood in front of a crowd. Duplicates of him appeared, encircling the terrified people.
“I said…KNEEL!” Loki roared, his scepter slamming down onto the floor demandingly.
“Steve, I need you. Where are you?” I whispered to the side, into my ear pierce making sure Loki wouldn’t hear.
Not wanting to get killed or injured, the people obeyed. Loki grinned, satisfied. “Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? 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.”
An old man stood up and I became alert, my eyes glancing between Loki and the man keenly.
“Not to men like you.” Surprisingly, the man’s voice was steady and stern.
“There are no men like me.” Loki chuckled.
“There are always men like you.” The man argued.
Loki’s smirk faded and he glared daggers at the old man. He raised his scepter, and I closed my eyes in concentration. “Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example.”
Just as Loki aimed his scepter, I teleported myself right in front of the man. He can hurt me all he wants. I’ll heal, but he can’t hurt this man. I was ready to protect this man with everything I had. I watched the blue beam race towards me, waiting for the impact to come.
“I’m here.” Steve responded, his voice sounding clearer and closer to me.
I breathed a sigh of relief as Steve appeared in front of the man and me, using his shield against Loki’s beam. The beam hit the shield and revolted back towards Loki. It struck him by surprise and sent him to the floor. The people took the chance and scurried away from the scene. “Go,” I told the man. He nodded glancing between Steve and I and did as I said.
Steve sent me a nod and I nodded back, letting him know I was alright. We both were. He then turned his attention back to Loki, who glared daggers at him. “You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing.”
Loki hastily brought himself to his feet, his blue eyes piercing into Steve’s. “The soldier, the man out of time.” He laughed darkly.
“I’m not the one who’s out of time.”
On que, the hover craft comes into view hovering just above us, aiming towards Loki. “Loki, drop the weapon and stand down.”
Not wasting time, Loki shot at the plane, causing it to go sideways but Natasha seemed to expect his move, because she recovered quickly after his blow. Steve threw his shield at Loki, knocking the wind out of him and causing Loki to bend to his side, grunting a bit. Before Loki could stand up straight, Steve left my side, reached him, and punched him.
I wanted to cry out at Steve and tell him not to hurt Loki, but fought against it. If Steve wasn’t fighting him off, who else would be? You’re too much of a coward to hurt someone who’s hurt you…
“Astryd! Help them evacuate!” Steve shouted.
The two began fighting and I glanced away, hearing the terrified high pitched screams of the people. I rushed to their aid and helped them evacuate as best I could. I was in the process of trying to calm a woman down when I caught a glimpse of Steve being forced to kneel down.
“Kneel.” Loki growled demandingly, pushing Steve’s knees down to the floor.
I aimed my arm towards Loki, ready to fire a beam of my own towards him but I didn’t need to. Steve had it all under control, I realized, as he easily stood up and threw Loki off of him. “Not today.”
That still didn’t stop me from teleporting to Steve’s aid. He may have thrown Loki off of him with ease, but I could tell by the look on his face that he was hurt. I held out my hand and helped him up, watching as my skin turned back to its original color.
Loud rock music began to blare out through an unknown source and echoed throughout the scene, and both of us glanced up confused. What in the nine realms is going on?
Above us, flew a red and gold object. From where I was, it looked like a robot but I knew better. It’s Iron Man. Its hand was aimed towards Loki and he shot at him, sending Loki to the floor once again before landing.
“That wasn’t necessary!” I snapped, glaring at him.
I glanced towards Loki and couldn’t help but worry as he fell onto his back in a wincing manner. I rushed up to him, and kneeled beside him and helped him up into a sitting position. I then pulled him into a longing hug. “I didn’t want this to get out of hand. Why didn’t you listen to me?” I whispered, making sure only he heard as my eyes roamed over him, making sure he wasn’t injured heavily.
His eyes met with mine apologetically.
“Make your move, Reindeer Games.”
Loki’s gaze averted mine and met with the two men standing in front of us. Iron Man’s arm was aimed towards him, prepared to send another blow towards him if he needed to. Steve held his shield protectively, glaring down at Loki. I was the only one out of the three that actually didn’t want to hurt him. As soon as his eyes met with mine again, I pleaded through them, begging for him to surrender.
He raised his hands up in surrender, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Good move.”
Relief washed over me at his choice. I don’t know what I would’ve done if he continued to fight. I’ve already proved to myself that I am no good when it comes to fighting against Loki.. I stood up and offered my hand down to Loki.
He stared at it.
Slowly and a bit reluctantly, he took it.
As soon as he got up to his feet, Iron Man roughly gripped Loki’s shoulder and shoved him forward, towards the hover craft that landed a few seconds ago. Loki winced. “Let him go,” I growled at Tony Stark. When he had made no move to do so, I felt the tips of my fingers begin to spark. Raising my hand up, I released the blue ball of energy, hitting Iron Man’s hand.
His hand drooped off of Loki, and his shoulders slumped, as his suit began to shut down. He immediately recovered a few seconds after, his suit regenerating and in less than a second, he stood in front of me.
“Stark!” Steve warned.
His metal mask slipped upwards, revealing a tan brown eyed face. He glared at me for a moment. “I don’t believe we’ve met in person before. I’m Tony Stark, and you must be Astryd…Selvig.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I know all about you.” Tony explained a smug expression on his face.
A/N: I just had to stop there. This is probably one of the longest chapters I've ever written! More was supposed to happen, but I decided to cut this chapter into two instead since it'd be a loooong chapter. Ah, so Tony & Astryd have met & as a lot of you guessed...they don't seem to like each other. Sorry if the bit of action sucked...I'm not good at writing that. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I sure did enjoy writing it! So what did you think about Astryd & Loki's reunion? Or her moment with Steve? What do you think will happen with Astryd & Loki next? Please leave your thoughts below!
also, thank you soooo much for the song suggestions. I'm working on making another video, among them one for Steve & Astryd. if you have any songs that you think can relate to them or a love triangle, please leave them in the comments below!