Meanwhile, Thor having left the Hulk, ran into the Detention center walked in to see Loki standing out side his cage.
"No!" He ran straight towards him only to run into thin air and fall inside the cage. Before he could run out the cage the doors shut.
"Are you ever not going to fall for that?"
Thor tried uselessly to use his hammer to break the glass cell
"The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?" Loki was about to open the hole in the middle of the glass cell, but suddenly Coulson suddenly appears.
"Ah, Agent-"
"Surrender Loki or else." In his hands was the prototype Steve found earlier in his firm grasp aiming at Loki. "Move away, please."
Loki moved away from the switch.
"You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent The Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?" Just as he was about to use the weapon suddenly Loki stabbed Coulson from behind with not a lick of remorse.
"Nooo!" Thor cried. Loki hit the button and opened the hole in the cell and Thor sucked in a sharp breath before he was dropped 30,000 feet out of the ship trapped in the glass cage, he struggled to get his hammer in his hand due to the quickness of his falling. He finally got it in his grasp and tried with all his might to break free through the glass and leap free.
After Loki dropped Thor to his presumed death, Loki attempted to walk out but Coulsons voice was heard.
"You're gonna lose."
"Am I?"
"It's in your nature."
"You're heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"
"You lack conviction." Coulsons voice was calm which began to upset Loki.
"I don't think I... " Loki began hotly and Coulsons felt his heart stopping so he, without hesitation shot Loki straight in his chest sending him flying across the room.
"So that's what it does."
Stark was still trying to get the engine to start up.
"Cap, need a lever."
Steve, who had been fighting with Loki's soldiers was now hanging from the edge of the ship hanging on to a wire. He looked inside the window from the view he was hanging from and saw Lokis soldiers and Baby in the scariest death match and was surprised to see neither was holding back. When he saw a group of army fling her across the room he felt a sudden boost of motive.
"I need a minute here!"
"Lever! Now!" Steve dragged himself back on the ship but Loki's soldiers started shooting at him, Stark then got dragged out of the engine just as Steve managed to pull the red lever.
Loki escaped the ship via a jet, just as Fury found Coulson gravely wounded.
"I'm sorry, boss. They got rabbited."
"Just stay awake. Eyes on me."
"No, I'm clockin' out here." Blood slowly leaked from his blue lips.
"Not an option." Fury felt a stabbing pain in his heart.
"It's okay, boss. This was never gonna work if they didn't have something to..." Coulson took his last breath before he could finish the sentence.
Just as Baby was about to fight off the last of the soldiers in her range she was caught by surprise when she felt an opening form in her stomach , she looked back to see a tall man with a scared expression.
"Shit-" he quickly sighed her nails dug into his neck and ripped his throat out. She looked down at the metal spear in the middle of her stomach.
"Fuck!" She cried out and Steve immediately heard her cry and ran as fast as he could to the noise.
Baby was on her knees in unimaginable pain she'd never felt before.
"Baby!" Steve yelled out before he saw her, silver was ozzing out of her.
"Steve..." She whispered weakly.
"Baby!" He ran toward her and slid to her side.
"Steve...help.." She was loosing consciousness.
Steve quickly threw down his shield and ripped off the top of his suit and wrapped it around her wound.
He began to feel lightheaded bit knowing Babys fumes were toxic, since he was made to regenerate her was slowly killing himself only to have his cells regenerate before he could die.
"Steve...I'm sorry."
"Don't say that, just keep your eyes open."
"I didn't mean to kill Daisy." Can't whispered over and over hallucinating that she was speaking to her comic.
"I don't know who Daisy is Baby but it's okay."
Cap was confused and wearily but quickly picked her up and on his way out bumped into a dismantled Tony.
"She's gonna be okay Cap." And with that he took Baby slowly from Steve and Steve wanted to hold her closer but knew her life was on the line, now was not the time to me selfish.
Tony took Baby and tried his best to keep her heart beating.
*****
It took almost five hours but Baby eventually woke up from her bed fully healed. She was surrounded by everyone except Banner.
Fury was the first to speak.
"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." He threw Coulson's Captain America trading cards on the table towards Steve.
" We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." He paused for a moment." Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes."
Silence rang throughout the room.
"Glad to have Baby." With that he walked out followed by out by everyone except Steve Tony.
"Baby, we need to talk later." Tony said with a strange look on his face.
"Why can't you say it now."
"Trust me, you don't want to hear that right now."
He ruffled Babys hair before walking out.
Baby looked up and saw how long her hair got. She hated when that happened to her. When ever she healed significantly, her hair would grow, as would her nails.
She looked down at her hand to see it was enveloped in Steve's hand and he had the most adorable look on his face.
"I...I thought-"
"Thanks for what you did out there."
His face was so close to mine, she could make out every single detail, not that she couldn't before, but this time intimacy was evident. There lips didn't touch but the look he gave her as close enough. The way his eyes looked at her body as if taking note of every minor detail concerning her as if he would never see her again. The thought that he almost lost her was heart wrenching.
And in the moment, the way Baby felt for him was certain.
She was without a doubt, without consent falling ridiculously falling for Steve Rogers.
****
Meanwhile 30,000 feet below the Banner was in his human form, and woke up naked in a pile of rubble in an abandoned building. A security guard was looking at him only ten feet away.
"You fell out of the sky."
" Did I hurt anybody?" Banner asked panicked.
"There's nobody around here to get hurt. You did scare the hell out of some pigeons though." The man joked.
"Lucky." Banner said wearily.
"Or just good aim. You were awake when you fell." the man said knowingly. His balding head bobbed.
"You saw?"
"The whole thing, right through the ceiling. Big and green and buck ass nude. Here... "he threw Banner a pair of trousers. "I didn't think those would fit you until you shrunk down to a regular size fella."
" Thank you." Banner was relieved and thankful, he didn't hurt any innocence and this man helped him without prejudice. Banner put on the trousers.
"Are you an alien?"
" What?" Banner almost chuckled.
"From outer space, an alien?"
"No." he said simply.
"Well then, son, you've got a condition."
After Natasha won her fight with Barton, she strapped him down so that he can shake off Loki's mind control.
" Clint, You're gonna be alright." she ran her hands threw Clint soft strands of hair caring.
"You know that? Is that what you know? I got...I gotta go in though. I gotta flush him out." Clint said mumbled of words.
"We don't have that long, it's gonna take time."
"I don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?"
Natasha bit her lips before answering. "You know that I do."
"Why am I back? How did you get him out?"
"Cognitive recalibration."
"Huh?"
" I hit you really hard in the head."
"Thanks."
Natasha freed his hands from the restraints.
"Tasha, how many agents?"
"Don't. Don't do that." She brought him in for a hug knowing the pain he must have felt currently. Her sweet cherry smell invade his senses. 'This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for."
" Loki, he got away?"
"Yeah. I don't suppose you know where?"
"I didn't need to know. I didn't ask." Clint sighed restlessly. "He's gonna make his play soon though. Today."
"We gotta stop him."
"Yeah? Who's we?" Clint crossed his arms.
"I don't know. Who's ever left." Natasha joked half hearted.
"Well, if I put an arrow in Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better I suppose."
"Now you sound like you." she joked ruffling his brown hair.
" But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why? What did Loki do to you?What's changed?"
"He didn't, I just..." She took a beat and sighed breathlessly.
"Natasha." he said laying a hand on her shoulder.
"I've been compromised. I got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out." They stayed there quiet for a moment until she heard Fury summon both of them to the conference room.
Steve and Baby sat in the room already holding hands under the table while he would run his thumb over her palm no matter how much she rejected him, he was persistent.
"Was he married?" Steve asked Fury referring to Coulson.
"No... Wait, Yes, She was a uh...cellist, I think."
"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man."
"He was an idiot." Tony said buying into a plum.
"Why? For believing?" Steve wondered buying his lip without even realizing.
"For taking on Loki alone." Baby said trying to hide her hurt.
"He was doing his job."
"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..." Tiny began to say.
"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."
"Right. How did that work for him?"
"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"
Baby scoffed at Steve sitting on the table."We are not soldiers! I'm not marching to Fury's fife."
"Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does, but right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together at least."
"He made it personal." Tony said and Baby agreed taking a bite of his plum.
Steve got jealous and handed the plum back to Tony. "That's not the point.."
"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"
"To tear us apart, isolate us to the point where we have nothing to fight for."
"He had to conquer his greed, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience." Baby continued, she felt something about to reveal.
"Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart." Steve said but Baby could tell where he was heading.
"Yeah. That's just previews, this is...this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tail diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered!"
"That son of a bitch."
"What?" Steve asked obvious to the obvious.
"He wants to use Stark Tower, that's the game plan."
"Check mate." Tony said as he angrily stride out the room.
"Ready to play chess?"