"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?"
Loki, God of Mischief, stood tall over the crowd of hostages in Germany. The smile on his face was sinister as he waved the glowing scepter in his hand around in the air, looking over the terrified faces of all those kneeling before him.
"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,"
The words resonated within the crowd of hostages. Many on the outskirts of the group tried to find a safe way to flee, but saw no exit as Loki had already demonstrated that he could multiply and be in multiple places at once. Many were crying, hanging onto those around them for dear life.
There was one man, an older man, who knelt in the middle of the group. He slowly rose to his feet, determination written on his face as he turned to face Loki.
"Not to men like you,"
Loki offered another sinister smile.
"There are no men like me,"
"There are always men like you,"
The god let out another laugh, the stone of the scepter glowing brighter as he pointed it toward the old man.
"Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example,"
The blast from the scepter flew out toward the man as he closed his eyes, accepting his fate, but it never came. The blast had been thrown back at Loki, knocking him off his feet as the man opened his eyes to see the red, white, and blue suit standing before him.
Steve Rogers, best known as Captain America, stood tall in front of the man, taking confident steps toward the god now lying on the ground. He had just been recruited to the team less than a few hours ago by Nick Fury, already in Germany facing off against the threat that brought him in in the first place.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing,"
"The soldier," Loki sneered, grabbing hold of his scepter as he rose to his feet. "The man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time,"
The quinjet lfew in from above, positioning itself to fire at Loki if he made a move. Natasha Romanoff and one of SHIELD's best pilot's sat in the front seat, manning the jet.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," Natasha's voice boomed over the speakers of the jet as the hostages ran for cover.
The god let out a cry, firing a beam of energy from the scepter at the jet as Steve Rogers ran forward, throwing his shield as it bounced off of Loki's armor, coming right back to rest on his arm as he landed a punch on Loki's face. The god whipped around with the scepter, Steve using his shield to block two of the shots before one collided with his stomach, sending him flying back as his back hit the ground hard.
Steve rose to his feet, throwing the shield once more as Loki knocked it to the side. The Captain only ran forward, engaging in hand to hand combat as he leaned back, avoiding a swipe of the scepter through the air. The scepter, though, caught the super soldier in the back, throwing him to the ground as Loki placed the butt of it against the Captain's helmet.
"Kneel," the god sneered at the man as Steve Rogers clenched his jaw.
"Not today!"
Steve Rogers flipped on his heel, knocking the scepter away as he went after the god once more.
Natasha Romanoff was desperately trying to get a lock on the god from the jet, but it was no use. Any time she got even close to getting a lock on him, Loki would throw Steve into the direct line of fire. She couldn't take out the target without taking out Captain America as well.
"Agent Romanoff...you miss me?"
"I'll apologize for the music now, Nat, not really my style,"
Natasha couldn't even stop the smirk that rose on her lips at the two voices over the comms, Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC suddenly being blasted over the PA system of the quinjet.
On the ground, Loki and the Captain had paused in their fight, looking around for the source of the music. Steve's eyes widened as he rolled out of the way the second he caught sight of the two streaks flying through the air.
Tony Stark, clad in the Iron Man armor, landed on the ground, firing at Loki as it threw the god back, knocking the scepter away. Loki snarled, getting back to his knees as the purple and gold armor of Imperial landed beside her partner, firing at the god once again as he hit the steps with such force he wasn't getting back up to fight.
Audelia Motter and Tony Stark stood side by side, hands held out and weapons facing the god to keep him in place.
"Make your move, reindeer games,"
Steve Rogers took a deep breath, grabbing his shield as he came to stand beside Tony Stark. He watched at Loki's armor faded away, his hands coming up into the air in surrender.
"Mr. Stark," Steve breathed out, not looking over at the man once.
"Captain,"
Audelia looked over at Steve Rogers as he looked over at her.
"Nice to meet you, Rogers,"
"You too, Motter,"
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The quinjet flew through the air at max speed, Natasha and the pilot setting course for the SHIELD hellicarrier. Audelia stood beside Steve Rogers, her helmet on the table as she toyed with some of the parts while Tony stood across the cabin, his eyes never leaving the god who sat quietly in chains.
"Must've been weird, waking up in the 21st century," Deli looked up at Steve, seeing the clench in his jaw as he looked away from her. "Sorry, don't mean to bring up bad memories. I just know it must've been hard so I wanted to make sure you were-"
"I'm not ignoring you, you just look a lot like him," Steve cut in, finally looking her in the eyes. "You look a lot like Ben."
"Well, that normally happens when someone is your father," Deli joked, gaining a small smile out of the man. She stole a glance around him to Tony, who had been making sure to avoid the Captain as much as possible, before letting out a side. "Look, Tony's a good man, you just have to realize we had different upbringings. Howard made it seem like he loved you more than Tony most of the time. I, on the other hand, lived for the 'Adventures of the Brave Captain America', as my dad called them."
Steve Rogers let out a chuckle, looking up at Audelia with a small smile.
"He reminds me a lot of Howard, which scares me. Howard was a lot, I don't even want to know how bad Tony can be," the pair shared another laugh as Steve pointed over at the man. "Is his daughter like him?"
"Tony doesn't have a daughter?"
"Oh, they said you had just had a daughter, so I assumed you both were..." Audelia's eyes widened as she realized what Steve meant, shaking her head as he began to immediately apologize. "I'm so sorry, ma'am. I just assumed that the two of you were together since you're so close."
"I'm actually engaged. Tony and I..." Deli trailed off, her eyes moving back over to Tony's figure as a small smile crossed her lips, the fluttering in her stomach returning like she was a teenager again. "It's complicated. We're best friends, always have been. Timing has just never been on our sides."
"Well, from the world's leading authority on waiting too long," Steve's comment drew another laugh out of the woman as he smiled, looking her over. She made him feel comfortable, it was a quality that Ben had, too. She was a piece of his past manifested in the present. "Just don't. If you want something, go get it."
"If only it were that simple," Deli muttered, Aurora's smiling face flashing across her mind. She studied Steve for a moment, a small smile resting on her lips. "My dad's alive, you know?"
Steve's head shot up immediately, his eyes widen.
"He's alive?"
"In a retirement home outside New York," Deli put the last piece in place on her helmet before shooting the Captain a wider grin. "Remind me when this is all over and I'll take you to see him. He'll be so happy to see you again. Might help adjusting, too, knowing you still have a piece of the past here with you."
"Dell, if you're done fan-girling and having a crush on your childhood hero," Audelia shot a glare at Tony as he walked over, only getting a wink in response as he pointed over to Loki. "We should get back to focusing on him, no?"
"I don't like it," Steve told the pair as he returned his focus to the prisoner.
"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"
"Tony, he's right," Deli chimed in, shooting Tony a look that she knew he would ignore. "Loki is powerful, and he gave up way too easily. There's got to be an ulterior motive here."
"I'm still stuck on Rock of Ages here. You are pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?" Steve raised an eyebrow at Tony, looking thoroughly confused and already annoyed beyond reason. "It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."
Steve stood a little taller, his jaw clenching as he turned to face Tony.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in,"
"Yeah, well, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell people,"
Deli saw the looks shared between the two as she quickly stepped in between them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders as she looked between the two before her.
"You two have very clashing personalities, that much is clear, but this is not the time to butt heads and compare dick sizes. You can sort your differences and uncover emotional trauma from your childhood later and become friends, right now we need to focus on Loki and the task at hand,"
Thunder cracked overhead, lightning hitting all around the quinjet as it shook slightly, everyone suddenly standing on guard. The trio's eyes moved over to Loki, who looked completely afraid of whatever was happening.
"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve questioned the god, who looked over at them and finally spoke.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows..."
A thump on the roof sent them into overdrive. Audelia and Tony were quick to grab their helmets, placing them on their heads as they maneuvered themselves into place as Steve Rogers grabbed onto his shield.
Tony reached over to the control station, flipping the switch for the back door of the jet as it flew open, a gust of wind entering the jet as a blonde man landed inside. Tony help up his blaster only to be knocked back into Audelia by the man's hammer.
The blonde grabbed hold of Loki before spinning his hammer and flying out of the jet as all they could do was watch it happen.
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha questioned as Audelia flipped her face mask up to look at her, shouting over the wind from outside.
"It's Thor!" She told her, recognizing him from the tablet of information from Coulson. "He's from the New Mexico incident, Loki is his brother!"
"Is he friendly?" Steve asked her before Tony jumped into the conversation.
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost," He told them through his mask, turning around to walk toward the back of the plane as Steve ran forward.
"Stark! We need a plan of attack!"
"I have a plan: attack,"
Tony was out of the plane in seconds, flying off through the storm. Audelia closed her eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh before turning to face Steve.
"Parachutes are under the seats. Grab one and try and meet us down there as fast as possible,"
Steve only nodded in response, watching as the face mask came down over her face before she, too, flew out of the plane and into the awaiting storm.
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Deli and Steve already have the cutest friendship COME ON ugh it makes me miss Lottie so much. Is it time for Bridge to the Multiverse yet? I miss Lottie and I want you guys to meet her kid so bad!