Germany
I squinted as Phil, Steve and I walked down the ramp of the aircraft and onto the base of the Helicarrier in the middle of the sea. Steve glanced around at everything and I grinned as I spotted Natasha walking over to us, her red hair as vibrant as ever.
"Agent Romanoff," Phil introduced. "Captain Rogers."
"Ma'am," Steve nodded formally.
"Hi," Natasha simply said.
"Nat!" I threw my arms around her shoulders and she sighed before hugging me back.
"Nice to see you, too, Rose," she smiled as I pulled away and then she faced Phil. "They need you on the bridge, they're starting the face-trace."
"See you there." Phil nodded and walked away, leaving the three of us alone.
Natasha led the way, Steve and I following. "It was quite the buzz around here when they found you in the ice," she told him. "Rose and I thought Coulson was gonna swoon,"
We shared a smirk. "Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" I asked Steve.
"Trading cards?" he repeated.
I grinned. "They're vintage. He's very proud."
Steve didn't reply, instead his eyes landed on a man several feet away, looking awkward and turning in circles at everything around him. "Dr Banner," Steve called. The man faces towards us, still confused, moving over to Steve.
"Yeah, hi," He greeted, accepting Steve's outstretched hand. Dr Banner looked at him. "They told me you would be coming."
"Word is you can find the cube?" Steve asked.
Banner glanced around. "Is that the only word on me?" He looked back at Steve.
"Only word I care about," Steve reassured him.
Banner nodded a bit, he gestured at the space around him. "This must be strange for you, all of this." he noted.
Steve glanced around at the planes and the men jogging in uniform. "Well, this is actually kind of familiar."
I came up behind them both and placed a hand on either of their shoulders, the men turning to look at me. "I hate to ruin your conversation, boys, but you might want to step inside a minute."
They looked at me with questioning eyes but Nat answered. "It's going to get a little hard to breathe."
A loud whirring made us look out towards the sea. "Is this a submarine?" Steve asked me.
"Really?" Banner shook his head. "They want me in a submerged, pressurised, metal container?"
The men walked out to the edge of the base as Nat and I shared a knowing look. They both looked down to see the huge propellers rising from the water, spinning dangerously as we began to rise.
They both stepped back. "No, no, this is much worse." Banner commented over the wind.
"Shall we?" Nat calls and Steve and Banner turn around, nodding.
We follow her inside and down a few corridors, the two men constantly turning their heads left and right to take in all the equipment and machinery around them. Nat and I glanced over our shoulders at them, smirking slightly at their amazement, as we walked into the bridge room.
Nat walked off to find Fury as I stopped and turned around. Banner had gone left whilst Steve had gone right up to the railings to look out at everyone working. I leaned against the table in the center as Steve and Banner converged at the sight of Fury.
"Gentlemen,he nodded and I coughed. "And Agent." he walked off again.
I made to move, when Steve grabbed my arm, using his right hand to pull something out of his pocket before handing me over ten bucks. I grinned. "Thank you, sir," I winked and let Steve walk off to continue to marvel.
I hardly heard Banner and Fury talking before I fully paid attention at Phil's voice. Steve and I both moved closer. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet," he said, folding his arms. "Cell phones, laptops...If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."
"You're still not gonna find them in time," Nat said from where she was crouched by the computer looking at Barton's face-trace. I frowned.
"We have to narrow our field." I added.
"I agree," Banner nodded. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?" he asked Fury.
"How many are there?" Fury simply replied.
"Call every lab you know," Banner said to Phil, removing his coat. "Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm and basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places." Fury nodded in agreement. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
Fury turned to look at Nat. "Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr Banner to his laboratory, please?"
She walked up to Banner and kept going, expecting him to follow. "You're gonna love it, Doc, we got all the toys."
~
Phil, Steve and I stood, once again, together looking out at people trying to locate Loki.
"I mean, if it's not too much trouble," Phil was saying to Steve.
"No, no, it's fine," Steve said, arms folded and I laughed at the awkward silence that ensued.
"It's a vintage set," Phil added excitedly. "It took me a couple years to collect them all."
Steve didn't reply and I had to put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing again.
"Near mint...slight foxing around the edges, but -"
"We got a hit," Sitwell's voice cut off Phil's awkward commentary. Our heads snapped up to look at him. "A 67% match."
He span back around in his chair as Fury walked up to one of the screens around him. "Wait, cross match, 79%," Sitwell added.
"Location?" Phil asked, moving behind him.
"Stuttgart, Germany," Sitwell told him. "28 Konigstrasse...he's not exactly hiding."
"Captain, Agent Stark," Fury's sharp voice made Steve and I turn around. "You're up."
"Yes, sir," I nodded as Steve breathed in deeply before nodding and moving to go get read.
~
By the time we had arrived in Germany, Loki had already caused destruction, and several people were already dead. Nat and I watched from the jet with anticipation as he surrounded a group of innocent people with duplicates of himself.
"That guy is one weird dude," I noted and Nat looked at me. "What?" I asked her.
"Just focus, Rose, please?" I rolled my eyes and nodded.
Before the blast Loki sent from his scepter towards an old man could hit him, Steve managed to jump down in front of him and raise his shield, the blast bouncing off and hitting Loki instead, knocking him to the ground. Steve rose slowly.
"I like that suit," I whispered to Nat as we watched, waiting to intervene.
"Shh!" she hushed me quickly.
"The soldier," we heard Loki spit out, amused. He grinned wickedly and used his scepter to lift him up. "The man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time," Steve replied back smoothly.
"That's our cue," I announced, lowering the aircraft and pushing a button to aim one of the guns at him.
"Loki, drop your weapon and stand down," Nat used the intercom to order him.
Anticipating his reaction, I swerved the jet as he blasted a bolt of blue at us, Steve launching his shield at him as I did.
"That was not nice!" I frowned at Loki, watching as he and Steve began to fight, the group of people scrambling away.
"The guy's all over the place," Nat commented as we moved closer to the pair.
"Agent Romanoff. Agent Stark," a voice broke into our intercom, and I knew it instantly. "Did you miss me?"
Then our system corrupted with the sound of Tony's music, the volume getting higher and higher until everyone outside could hear it, too. Nat resisted an eye roll and I grinned, watching as Tony flew in as Iron Man and blasted Loki back before he landed on the ground. He raised both his arms, all of his weapons arming themselves at Loki.
"Make your move, Reindeer Games,"