"Everything will turn out alright, [Y/N]," Steve tells you as the quinjet nears Stuttgart.
"I know it will, but that doesn't mean I'm not nervous," you explain. "I kinda wasn't expecting my summer to be stopping a psychopathic alien. I had gotten hints that something like this would happen, but I don't see my future. I didn't know I'd be involved."
"I can't see into the future, but this is definitely not what I had in mind for the summer," Steve agrees.
You pull out your phone. "Sorry, it's vibrating, and we should check what Loki's doing. Some techs put the feed on my phone." You slide away emails and texts but stop when you see the news. You have an app that takes your location and gives you news specific to it. It's nice for when you're away from home. It gives you traffic and safety concerns, and everything else you ignore. You don't ignore it today. "I guess the techs didn't need to give me SHIELD's feed." You press the notification and show Steve the live video of Loki herding crowds of terrified civilians. "It's live. Ready?"
"No. What's he doing?"
You turn up the volume. "-scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled."
"Charming, isn't he? He did that when he first came. He has the philosophy that humanity is meant to be ruled by a higher power. And, of course, that higher power is him," you tell Steve.
"I almost died fighting Hydra just for a totalitarian alien to come along with the expectation of becoming dictator." He sighs.
"In the end, you will always kneel," Loki says.
"Not to men like you," an elderly man says, standing up in direct contrast to Loki's demand.
"There are no men like me."
"There are always men like you."
You feel a chill up your spine. You know what Loki intends to do. You check the location and let out a sigh of relief. "Loki's going to kill that man," you say desperately. "I don't need clairvoyance to know that. That's what dictators do. Kill those that oppose them."
"Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example."
You open your mouth to speak, but Steve is already opening the door and jumping out. The pilot closes the door, and you go to the cockpit to look out the window. Gosh, why am I so worried? I know what will happen!
Loki lowers his scepter at the man. Before the beam of light can hit him, Steve is shielding the man. The blast reflects off the vibranium shield onto Loki, who falls back. "You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing," Steve says as he walks closer to Loki. There's a communicator on his suit, and it can pick up his conversation quite well.
"The soldier," Loki says as he stands. "The man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time," Steve counters.
The pilot lowers the quinjet for Loki to see and Natasha aims weapons at him. "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," she says in a speaker. Loki responds by firing at the quinjet. You hold on to the seat in front of you, murmuring a line of cuss words under your breath. The pilot dodges the blast.
On the ground, Steve throws his shield at Loki's chest, knocking him back. The two start fighting as the once kneeling crowd runs. You hold your breath as you watch, knuckles white. After moments, Steve's shield is knocked away. Seconds after, Steve is on the ground, Loki's scepter pushing his head down. "Kneel."
"Not today." Steve pushes the scepter aside and flips, kicking Loki hard.
"The guy's all over the place," Natasha says in concern, trying to aim at him. Steve and Loki are in a cycle of knocking each other to the ground.
AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill" starts playing through the speaker. "Agent Romanoff, you miss me?" Tony Stark asks. Natasha smiles slightly, as do you. Both Steve and Loki look up when the music blasts through the quinjet's speakers. The Iron Man comes streaking like a bullet through the sky, shooting at Loki, who is thrown back. Stark lands and aims several weapons at Loki. "Make your move, Reindeer Games." Steve walks up and stands next to Tony. Loki's illusions dissipate as he raises his hands in surrender. Tony stores his weapons away in his suit. "Good move."
"Mr Stark," Steve greets, out of breath.
"Captain," Tony says.
"We're landing. Get Loki onto the quinjet," Natasha says, her voice reaching their communicators. As the quinjet lowers, she looks back at you. "You know we aren't gonna let him touch you, right?"
You nod, face pale. Darn you, Fury! Why the heck did you send me on this mission?
When Loki is led on board by Steve and Tony, he looks at you in surprise, but doesn't say anything. Tony has him sit down, and Steve comes to you, worry written on his face. "Everything will turn out alright," he says quietly.
"I, I know, it's just nerve wracking, y'know," you answer, tongue stumbling through the syllables you speak.
"I'm sure it is." He hesitantly sets his hand on your shoulder, unsure if that's appropriate at the moment. "I'll keep you safe."
You nod and smile worriedly, placing your hand on top of his on your shoulder.
"Am I interrupting something?" Tony asks. You roll your eyes and face him. He had taken his helmet off. He offers his hand, still encased in his suit. "Tony Stark. I take it that you're the clairvoyant. Glad we've cleared up whether ESP is real or not."
Not quite. You shyly shake his hand. "It's a pleasure," you say timidly. You turn to Natasha. "How long until we get to the carrier?"
"Fifteen minutes." She smiles comfortingly at you.
You turn to see Loki staring at you, his face showing a mixture of confusion and intrigue. Don't even look in his direction. You look down, praying the fifteen minutes, plus however long it takes to figure out Thor, can hurry up and get over with.
You listen as Natasha radios Fury. "We got him. No Cube though."
"Is he saying anything?" Fury asks.
"Not a word."
"Just get him here. We're low on time." The conversation ends there.
Steve sighs. "I don't like this," he tells you and Tony.
"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony responds.
"I don't remember it being that easy," Steve counters. "This guy packs a wallop."
"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing, Pilates?"
"What?" Steve asks in confusion.
"It's like calisthenics," you answer.
"You might have missed a couple things doing time as a Capsicle."
"Play nice, you two," you say. "We'll catch you up," you tell Steve.
"Thanks," he tells you softly before turning to Tony. "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." You see lightning flashing through the window.
"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."
"Hold on," you tell them. "I recognize this."
Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes. "Where's this coming from?" Natasha thinks aloud.
Loki leans forward and looks toward the ceiling, listening intently. "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?" Steve asks him.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki answers before returning his gaze to the windows.
Steve and Tony look at each other in confusion before looking at you. "You got any idea what he's talking about?" Tony asks.
Before you can answer, Thor lands on top of the quinjet, causing it to shake. Tony puts his helmet back on and opens the rear hatch. You hurriedly grab onto the side railing as he does so. "What are you doing?" you and Steve shout at Tony in unison. Probably a good idea if I seem a little confused.
Tony doesn't bother to answer. In a second, Thor jumps on the ramp. Tony raises his hand and charges his blaster, but Thor slams his hammer into Tony's chest. Tony is knocked back, toppling himself, you, and Steve to the floor. While you, Steve, and Tony struggle to stand, Thor roughly grabs Loki and drags him out of the quinjet.
"And now there's that guy," Tony complains as Steve helps you up, worrying himself over any injuries you could have gotten.
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha shouts over her shoulder.
"That guy's a friendly?" Steve asks.
"Doesn't matter," Tony asserts. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!"
"I have a plan: attack."
"Wait, Stark!" you shout. He doesn't listen and flies out. You sigh in frustration. "No one can be bothered to listen to the psychic!" Before you know it, Steve is putting a parachute on.
"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha says.
"I don't see how I can."
"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods," Natasha insists.
"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that."
"At least listen to the psychic on this!" you say.
"Anything I should know?"
"The blond is Loki's brother. Long story short, they don't get along, and he doesn't want Loki screwing with Earth or the Tesseract."
"So he could be an ally?"
"Yeah, he only attacked to get Loki so he could find the Tesseract himself. He doesn't know who any of us are."
"Thank you, [Y/N]," Steve says sincerely. "I'll keep that in mind." He turns around and jumps out of the quinjet.
You close the hatch and walk shakily to Natasha. "Can we see them?"
"No, there's too many trees in the way. Can you see them?"
"Maybe. I don't know. This doesn't work often, I don't know why." You sit down and feign deep concentration. "I'm seeing flashes. Loki and his brother, Thor. On a cliff. Thor demands Loki give up the Cube. Stark flies into Thor. Thor says Loki will face Asgardian justice. Tony says once we get the Tesseract, Asgard can have Loki. And they're fighting again." You sigh. "They'll probably do that for a while."
"What's it like, these flashes?" Natasha asks curiously.
"They're brief. A little visual, one or two lines of dialogue. It's no 3D movie either. It's always blurry or not lighted well or something on those lines. I do better with the future or past than the present, because it's still forming as I watch it. I've tried looking a few seconds into the future, but I guess I need to look farther than that for a clearer picture," you lie. You and Natasha wait as Thor and Tony fight. A lightning bolt soars from the ground into the sky. "Guess who we found."
"Too forested for us to land," Natasha says.
"Stay here, don't look for a landing zone," you say. "They're a ways off now, fighting. Steve just found them. Telling Thor and Stark to stop. Thor seems threatened. He's about to hit Steve with his hammer, but Steve has his shield. Five, four, three, two, one." When you reach the end of your countdown, there's a loud crash as several trees go tumbling. "Found them again. Think you can land there?"
"How did you-"
"I got tired of watching Stark and Thor fight, so I skipped ahead."
The quinjet lands as the three stand. "Are we done here?" You don't hear Steve say it, but you know he is saying it as you open the hatch.
"Yes, you are done. Someone go get Loki and get him on the jet," you say.
"How did you know his question?" Thor asks.
"I'll explain later. Go get your brother," you say. Thor flies without a word to go grab Loki.
"You had good luck with him," Tony remarks.
"I've got good intuition. Get on."
They stop wasting time and get on the jet. Soon, Thor is pushing Loki on too. Once everyone is on board, the quinjet leaves once again, Natasha radioing Fury to tell him what on Earth happened. Once again, Loki is sitting, and you, Steve, Tony, with the addition of Thor, are standing, occasionally glancing at Loki. You occasionally feel Loki watching you. Introductions go around. When Thor gets to you, he asks you lots of questions about you being a psychic. You explain "truthfully." He also asks how you and the others got wrapped up with what's happening, and everyone explains. When he hears your story, he glares at Loki before saying he doesn't know how you could've ended up at S.H.I.E.L.D.
Everyone falls silent after that. You sit down on the farthest seat from Loki, head hurting. I'm just dehydrated. I'll drink and take some tylenol when we get on the carrier. You rest against the wall, tired. You hear Thor walk toward Loki and Steve in front of you, Tony in between them. A barrier between you and Loki. You silently thank them for standing between you and the guy who attempted to kidnap you.
A few minutes later, you hear Loki sigh in a small amount of pain. "I take it you have a purpose behind that," you hear him mutter to Thor.
"Just because you're trying to conquer this world doesn't mean you have to be impolite."
"I don't follow."
"You should know not to stare at fair maidens." You feel your face heating up. You never expected the fictional embodiment of Chris Hemsworth to say anything like that about you. Yes, he didn't say it directly to you, but still.
"I don't have any of those intentions. I just happen to have no idea how she escaped me."
"Still impolite." You continue to blush, turning away from them.
"Look who's being impolite now. I doubt she appreciates this conversation." Thor doesn't respond afterwards.
A few minutes later, the quinjet lands on the helicarrier. A squadron of guards are there to escort Loki to his cell. You and the others head inside, done with that adventure.