~~Present Day~~
I smirked at the door as Steve walked through with his arm around Natasha, and Dr. Banner on the other side with his arm around Natasha. My grin widened. I flipped off the ceiling and cheered a little. "Oh my gosh!" Dr. Banner look nervous at my sudden presence. "Are you three...soulmates?" I gasped.
"Yeah, we are." Steve smiled at Natasha and Dr. Banner. Dr. Banner and Natasha smiled back at each other and Steve. They looked like the happiest people in the world. I silently squealed.
"I'm so proud of you three for finding each other!!" I cheered. "Oh! Also, Dr. Banner, it's a pleasure to meet you." I shook his hand in greeting. "Please be good to Natasha and Steve." I threatened with a smile. He seemed to be genuinely frightened.
"Steve." I stared intently at my best friend. He laughed and took a dollar note out of his pocket and handed it to me. I playfully grinned and jumped back to the ceiling, tucking the money into my pocket. Natasha shook her head with a fond smile and wiggled herself from her soulmates. She opened her arms.
"What? No hug for a friend?" She smiled. My eyes practically sparkled. I flipped down and tackled her into a hug as her soulmates admired the Helicarrier.
"We're currently scanning for a match to find this 'Loki' as we speak. Welcome to SHIELD. Dr. Banner, Captain Rogers, it's a pleasure to have you two here." Fury walked over, shaking their hands in greeting.
"Thanks for having us here." Steve smiled, then went back to a poker face as he looks around some more.
"Thanks for asking nicely." Dr. Banner joked sarcastically--but he didn't laugh. Fury just had a small smile of amusement.
"Agent Romanoff, could you please show Dr. Banner to his lab? And Steve and Lola, it's time to suit up. I'll be sending you on a mission to find and stop Loki once we locate him." Fury ordered.
"Alright, I'll show you to your lab, Dr. Banner." Natasha winked at her blushing soulmate. "You're going to love it--it's got all the sciencey-toys." She joked.
"Come on, Steve! I'll show you where you can gear up!" I giggled giddily. He smiled at my enthusiasm.
"I'd appreciate that, Lola. Lead the way." He chuckled. I skipped to the room that had his suit and shield with him walking behind me. I'm glad I always manage to make him smile or chuckle. Once he suited up again and I made sure I had my weapons, we went back to the main control room. We had some simple chit-chat, which then somehow led to:
"I'm sorry, again...about Bucky..." He lowered his head. He didn't know...I completely forgot.
I stopped him in his tracks, so no one would see.
"Steve...I completely forgot to show you..." I sighed, slipping the wristband off for a moment. I showed him my wrist and watched as his eyes lit up with tears. "He's not dead...just...probably with Hydra and..well, lost."
"So...what? We just wait until we find him or he finds us?" He questioned astounded.
"I have a basic idea of someone working for Hydra who might be him, but I won't go further into details. And, I don't want him to suffer, I just haven't shown Shield yet either. I don't want them to kill him, but I don't want them to find him either." I sighed, confusing myself.
"I see..." He trailed off. We began to walk again and it seemed he was clearing his thoughts and about to speak up again, when Natasha crossed our path.
"Hey." She smirked to Steve who's mood instantly improved.
"Hey." He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her.
"Awww!" I snapped a photo before they pulled away. "You guys are so perfect for each other! I should've thought to snap a photo with Dr. Banner in it!" I squealed.
"Lola..." Natasha playfully glared.
"Oh, look, I think Director Fury's calling us." I quickly bolt to the control room. They quickly followed behind me in a chase as we all laughed. But, the mood was killed when we made it to the control room and Fury spoke up quite seriously, but with a twinkle of mischief in his eye.
"So," Fury began, "Who's up for travelling to Germany?"
Literally hours later, we're finally arriving near the place where my prince has been spotted. We opened the Quinjet and hung onto the sides as we watched Loki walking around a group of fearful, kneeling nobles. His black, shoulder length hair blew in the wind. He wore a green and gold outfit and...helmet? Crown helmet? Who knows. I turned into a raven and flew down and just watched as Loki yelled at the people. He aimed his glowing blue and silver scepter at an elderly man who stood up against him. It looked like the scepter was charging like a weapon.
Luckily, I didn't have to move an inch, because Steve jumped in front of the blast and shielded it with his...shield. The blast ricocheted and hit Loki instead. Loki dropped to the ground with a "GAH!" from impact. He quickly looked up at Steve who stood up collectively and spoke. "You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else;"
'Here we go again.' I chuckled, flying back to the Quinnjet's open doors and turning into a cat; just sitting, listening and watching.
"We ended up disagreeing." Steve finished his sentence. Loki began to stand with a prideful smirk.
"The soldier...the man out of time." He used his scepter to help himself up.
"I'm not the one who's out of time." He replied coolly. 'Damn.' I smirked. The doors suddenly closed. Freaking out I jumped and fell to the ground quite painfully. I landed on my paws with my fur stood on end and all fluffed up. I noticed Natasha had turned the Quinnjet around and pulled out the Quinnjet's machine gun. She began to speak through the microphone:
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." She ordered sternly. I shook my fur and watched Loki's unimpressed face turn sour. He blasted his weapon at the Quinnjet, and Natasha narrowly dodged it with her skilled driving. In response to his blast, Steve threw his shield at Loki and knocked him backwards, and then everyone began to panic and run and scream. Which was not great for me. So while Steve ran to fight Loki, I panicked and dodged feet which nearly trampled me in their every step.
I went as far as to hiss at some of them with my spiked, black fur and glowing blue eyes. Some became even more fearful and some just ignored me. 'Rude.'
My sensitive ears picked up something a little less...incognito. I just listened as AC/DC blasted through the Quinnjet's speakers. The crowd had cleared so I safely stopped running closer to the males and looked up at the sky. A glowing fire soared past the Quinnjet and fired a blast at Loki. A suit of red and gold armour then landed and prepared to fire its lasers at Loki some more. 'Mr. Stark......we're all doomed aren't we?'
"Make your move Reindeer Games." He spoke sarcastically. Steve went to stand beside him with his shield and I sprinted to Steve's side. Socializing tips for agents: when in doubt of meeting new people; literally just cling to the only person you know. Loki's outfit changed to a helmet-less, armour-less outfit that consisted of leathery black and green. He held his hands up in surrender. "Good move." Mr. Stark huffed. He stopped charging his firearms and let his arms drop to his sides.
"Mr. Stark." Steve 'greeted'.
"Captain." Mr. Stark 'greeted'.
I brushed against Steve's side to gain his attention. He chuckled once he noticed it was me. This gained the other males' attention as Steve picked me up and let me sit on his shoulders; because even as a cat, I'm still hella short.
"Aw, you make a friend, Captain?"
"She's an old friend." He glared. Obviously things of the past are touchy subjects now.
"She looks it too." I could practically hear Mr. Stark's smirk.
"Excuse me, bitch." I jumped over Steve's head and onto his other shoulder. Mr. Stark looked taken back. He even walked backwards. Loki just looked curious. "I know the number one rule is don't ask a girl her age, but here's another thing. You don't say she looks old either." I snarled.
"Shit, sorry." He half-apologized--too taken back by a talking cat to come up with something better to say.
"Tch." I glared, jumping off Steve and sprinting to the landing Quinnjet. I trotted up to her and shook out my fur. I noticed they walked inside with Loki so I jumped onto the ceiling and laid down; still annoyed with Mr. Stark. I don't like people talking about my age. Afterall, I'm over two hundred years old...I just don't like talking about it. The Quinnjet took off back to the Helicarrier.
"Lola, I'm sure he didn't mean it like that. I think he was trying to insult me." Steve sighed. He might not know me as well as Bucky, but he stills knows I like to pout.
"Hmph." I jumped down, changing into my human form, but still crossing my arms in a pout. Steve shook his head with a fond smile at my stubbornness. I overheard Natasha talk with Fury about how quiet Loki was being. He hadn't said a word, just stared at the wall in front of him or watched me closely and suspiciously.
"I don't like this." Steve spoke quietly. Mr. Stark walked over after taking his helmet off.
"What?" He spoke back just as quietly. "Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"
"I don't remember it being that easy." Steve quickly replied. Loki glanced at us then back to in front of him. I wrapped my arms around Steve as I kept Mr. Stark and Loki in my peripheral vision. "This guy packs a wallop." He nodded at Loki. Steve pat one of my arms in 'comfort'. Here's a good, quick life lesson. Girls can give you all the attention in the world; but they'll want just as much back at random times. Pouting and hugging Steve is a form of attention grabbing. It makes us feel better.
"Still, you are pretty spry; for an older fellow." Mr. Stark insulted. "Whatcha think; Galati's?" 'Like the pizzaria?'
"What?" Steve scrunched up his face in confusion.
"Well it's like calisthenics. You might've missed a couple things...you know...doing time as a capsicle" Mr. Stark shrugged rudely. 'Rekted.' Steve took a moment to think briefly.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." He then turned his head to look over his shoulder at me. "Did you know about this?"
"W-Well...yes, but I...didn't think he'd show up here to be honest." I answered truthfully.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Mr. Stark questioned, scrunching up his face in confusion and hurt.
"I'm just saying, I thought we'd be meeting up with you at the Helicarrier." I told him nonchalantly.
"And you and Fury didn't even tell me that?" Steve questioned once again, shrugging me off him so he could turn around to face me. I held my hands up in mock surrender, but Mr. Stark spoke before me.
"Listen capsicle, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell anybody." They began a glare-staredown.
"When did this come in?" Natasha spoke to herself, observing a growing storm.
"Whoa, that came out of nowhere." I noticed, leaning over her shoulder to observe with her. A blast of lightning and then rolling thunder came quickly before slowly echoing away. Loki looked nervous.
"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve asked sarcastically. That's when the gears in my head began to turn.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki explained, fearfully looking up at the ceiling. The cogs clicked and a switch in my head was switched on. I knew the only possible explanation was: Thor.