220Chapter 11 - The Initiative (1)
It is only in the depths of tragedy that we find solace, that we find common ground, that we find that which unites us.
Many I have met believe that it is only through such methods that unity can truly be created.
I have lived long enough and fought hard enough however to know that hope also works, that the bright light of the future can galvanise people into action. Give the masses hope, and you can unite them to overcome anything.
The only issue is that hope is hard, and tragedy… tragedy is so very easy to create.
(Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility - Mojave Desert -May 1st, 2012)
"Doctor Selvig!"
Dick Grayson's voice caused the world-renowned astrophysicist's head to snap in his direction only for a second before refocusing on the instruments in front of him. "Please tell me this wasn't you and please tell me you know what's going on."
"It wasn't me." Selvig replied before darting between several devices, his brow becoming more furrowed as he saw even more readouts that made less and less sense.
"Great, is it still looking like it's going to blow the facility to pieces?" Dick sighed as he crossed his arms glancing at the Tesseract that was pulsating with power.
"At this rate, I would be more worried about the whole state of Nevada," Selvig said gruffly. He waved off an assistant fumbling with a device being used to measure the energy output.
"Doctor, what do we know for certain?" Fury's voice caused Dick's head to turn to face the man whilst Selvig continued to monitor the Tesseract.
"The Tesseract is misbehaving." Selvig rushed to yet another one of the consoles as the screens started to flash red.
"Is that supposed to be funny?" Fury crossed his arms glancing at Dick whose grimace told him that the situation was as bad or even worse than reported.
"No, not funny at all." Selvig released a sigh rubbing his eyes with one hand as the readings just grew worse "The Tesseract is not only active, she's behaving."
"I assume you turned off the power?" Fury moved toward Selvig with Dick falling into step next to him.
"First thing we tried, sir, but the Tesseract is an energy source," Dick answered before glancing towards the Tesseract and his gut sank with each steady pulse of blue.
"We turn off the power, she turns it back on."
"She's almost at a critical level. When that happens…..well, it's not going to be good" Selvig's voice turned sombre as tapped one of the monitors as Fury arrived next to him, which showed they could no longer track the cube's energy output.
"I thought we were prepared for that; harnessing energy from space?"
"But we don't have the harness ready, and even if we did, it couldn't take this amount of power." "I can't even get a real reading on it, she's throwing off interference, radiation."
Fury's eyebrows raised in concern at the word radiation, his one good eye turning to glance wearily at the cube which sparked off energy as he did so.
"Don't worry, it's nothing harmful. Just low levels of gamma radiation." Selvig did not miss the worried look the director gave the cube as he continued figuring out what was happening.
"That can be harmful," Fury's stoic tone was accompanied by a glance at Dick, the senior SHIELD agent moved away from Selvig allowing the two men to speak in private. "What have you seen, and where's Agent Barton?"
"No one approached the cube in the 48 hours before this started, by all accounts this was a spontaneous event." Dick turned his head and nodded to the upper right corner of the massive room they were in. "I kept the hawk in his nest, he sees better from a distance. Agent Barton! Report in."
With a gesture, the reaction was immediate as a series of thuds and footfalls rang out as a figure blurred across the room. Fury didn't react to any of Barton's acrobatics while he presented himself to the SHIELD director.
"Sir, I've swept the base twice, double-checked everyone, it's all clean. If there was any tampering, it wasn't on this end."
"This end?" Fury raised his eyebrow and glanced around.
"Well, the cube's supposed to be a doorway right to the other end of space, or something," Barton crossed his arms as he looked at the cube that sparked again, looking back "So…"
"... doors open both ways," Dick finished with a grimace and a sigh. "Sir, I suggest we speed up the evacuation and prep the Tesseract for emergency transport to the Slingshot, they could launch within 10 minutes of our arrival."
"You want to launch the cube into space?" Fury's head snapped towards one of his most trusted agents, who knew very well that losing the Tesseract was not an option,
"Better space than decimating Nevada," Dick sighed although he wasn't privy to everything regarding the Tesseract he knew it was highly important to SHIELD but at this stage, he couldn't see another option. "If the Tesseract builds up anymore sir we might be looking at a mass e-"
BOOM! CRACK!
All three men went silent as a beam of pure blue energy shot from the Tesseract, for a moment the entire room became dark as stars, planets and nebulas appeared around them. However, the wonders of the universe quickly disappeared as the darkness rushed back to a single point where the beam had struck. As the darkness faded a figure rose from within. He was wearing rich green clothes trimmed with gold, and was grasping a sceptre with a sharp metal blade on its front as a blue gem glowed just underneath.
"Contact, contact, contact, move in, move in." The guards that had been lingering at the edge of the room swarmed in towards the newcomer in a perfect formation.
Dick took charge. "Sir! Lower the weapon or these men will open fire!" He moved forward, placing himself between Fury and the man in green who still had smoke rolling off of him.
"Sir, please, this is your only warning, if you do not dro- AH HELL!"
His curse was accompanied by him twisting around and diving into Fury to knock him out of the way of a blast of energy which screamed across the room. As Dick shook his head as pulled himself up and off of Fury, he saw the hangar had turned into a warzone, and the newly arrived figure was tearing through the security team. He could see that the figure was a man with long, slightly unkempt raven locks with a wild glint in his eyes and was letting off blue energy blasts with his spear that vaporised anything they struck.
"Barton, cover me!" Dick's order was directed at the agent who was currently firing at their assailant a grimace on his face as his bullets bounced harmlessly off of the spear-wielding maniac. "Director, you need to leave, Now!"
Dick rushed forward, darting under one blast and then using the equipment in the lab both as cover and as platforms to get closer to his target. Barton's eyes widened, he knew of the infamous Dick Grayson but had never seen the man actually at work, and he was more than impressed. The man flicked his arms out to his sides as he got within physical range of their attacker, and if by magic, a pair of eskrima sticks appeared in his hands. Barton's impression of the man only grew as Dick managed to be the first person to dodge the assailant's attack when he gaped at Dick only to find the man was now at his side. With a spin of his wrist, Dick generated a powerful blow and struck the man hard in the side of his ribs, the strike was as precise and targeted as anything Barton had ever seen.
CRACK!
Barton moved forward, firing at the man's head as he saw Dick's attack completely fail, his eskrima stick just shattered against the man's side, and the audible crack was followed by the sound of the broken weapon rolling away on the floor. Dick's shock lasted only for a second as he twisted and attempted to leap out of the way but as he did so found that his opponent wasn't just durable but insanely fast. He found his ankle caught in a vice-like grip which was followed by him being slammed into the floor, his vision going blurry as the back of his head struck the ground hard.
"You have heart and courage, I can use that," The man suddenly struck his strange spear at his chest, but instead of pain, Dick felt his blood go cold and his mind become clear as everything suddenly made sense.
"GRAYSON!" Barton cried out after seeing what he thought was his fellow agent getting stabbed in the chest.
However, as Barton got close enough to try to help, he was suddenly confronted by the very man he was trying to rescue. Before he could register what was happening, Dick had disarmed him, grabbed his arm and forced him to his knees before the green-clad invader. The man merely repeated his previous act and struck the spear lightly towards Barton's chest who, like Grayson a few moments before, found his whole world opened to the light of truth. The man smiled as Barton rose to his feet with a look of fierce devotion on his face, then bowed his head before his new god.
"Please don't touch that." Fury froze as the assailant's voice rang out just as he managed to place the Tesseract into a secure transport container. "I still need it,"
"This doesn't have to get any messier" Fury turned slowly his grip on the case tightening as he saw Barton and Grayson move to flank the man "Stand down and we can talk,"
"Oh it's too late for that, I've come too far for anything less," The man moved forward lifting his chin up as he squared his shoulders trying to convey an air of authority that merely made him look more unhinged "I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."
"Loki?" Selvig appeared from behind one of the pieces of destroyed equipment. His eyes focused closer. "Brother of Thor?" Loki's head whipped in his direction. His jaw clenched in anger.
Fury raised his hands to try and divert attention from the scientist. "We have no quarrel with your people," He intoned, showing he wasn't a threat while his one good eye scanned the area for an escape.
"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki gave a small smirk as he watched the mortal before him frown.
"Are you planning on stepping on us?" Fury's eye narrowed as he lowered his hand whilst moving his other behind him to keep the Tesseract as far from this Loki as possible.
"I come with glad tidings! Of a world made free," Loki raised his hands out to his sides as if he were on stage and giving a dramatic first performance.
"Free from what?" Fury started moving slowly, mirroring Loki whose smile only widened.
"Freedom," Loki suddenly twisted and, with a flourish, his spear found Selvig's chest just as it had with Barton, Grayson and the other agent. A rush of cosmic power, and the man was his. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart, you will know peace."
"Yeah, you say peace," Fury felt his heart skip as he saw the look in Loki's eyes that he had seen before, but only on the worst men he had ever met. "I kind of think you mean the othe- UGH!"
Fury flew backwards as Dick raised his hand to catch the eskrima stick that he had just thrown with expert skill. Loki turned his head to look at his newest thrall the man's face was impassive as he knocked out his former leader. Dick wasted no time moving towards Loki to direct him to the exit whilst he gestured at Barton to move.
"Barton, retrieve the Tesseract," As Grayson approached he gave Loki a bow of his head but he remained cold and emotionless, "Apologies, sir, Fury was stalling waiting for the portal you came through to collapse this structure. We should move"
"He's right; the portal is destabilising. We have a few minutes at most." Selvig moved next to Grayson, lifting a pad that was still working, showing that the portal was growing more unstable each second.
"Well then, lead the way," Loki smiled and merely fell into step behind Grayson as Barton passed the case with the Tesseract to Selvig and took up the rear.
It didn't take them long to reach a loading dock where vehicles were being loaded with both equipment and people as the evacuation picked up pace. Loki tilted his head as he watched the guards and people move out of Grayson's way, not a single person meeting the man's eye.
"I need this vehicle, get out," Grayson moved to one of the larger vehicles his command was heeded immediately although no one questioned him they all did glance at Loki as they filed passed. "Sir we need to leave before"
"Who the hell is that? And why are you taking this vehicle?" Maria Hill appeared flanked by two guards, her eyes first fixed on Loki and then shifting to Grayson, her hand going to her weapon as she saw his eskrima stick in his hand. "Grayson, explain this now, or -AHH!"
Maria felt blood explode from her nose as Grayson suddenly closed the distance between them, his elbow striking her nose whilst his eskrima stick struck the guard to her right, and his foot kicked the one on her left to the ground. Everyone apart from Loki and Barton froze as they watched one of SHIELD's most senior agents knock down the deputy Director, Loki merely leapt onto the back of the vehicle whilst Barton shoved Selvig inside.
"Barton GO!" Dick flipped backwards as the other guards started to react and opened fire at him. "Move it now!"
However, they had no chance as Grayson was already in the back of the vehicle by the time most registered what was happening. Loki merely sat in the back of the vehicle, a smile growing on his face as he watched his newest warrior engage a host of pursuing vehicles with nothing but his eskrima stick and strange metal weapons he seemed to pull out of nowhere. He watched as the other one, Barton; he believed he was called, also impressed him, firing his primitive weapon with such accuracy that every shot either killed someone or disabled a vehicle. The pursuit quickly grew tedious for Loki as they twisted out a series of tunnels and then out into the open air of Midgard, however, he had to admit his newest servants were quite impressive.
"Sir, I believe we require your assistance," Grayson's voice drew Loki's attention as the man pointed to a helicopter that appeared overhead, its side door opening to show Fury hefting a very large weapon.
"Indeed," Loki merely stood up, seemingly unaffected by the swerving and weaving of the vehicle as he hefted his weapon and let off a blast that took out the tail of the helicopter that started to spin uncontrollably in the air heading towards the ground quickly. "Tell me what is your name?"
BOOM!
"Richard Grayson, sir," Dick responded, his cold emotionless eyes not even glancing at the crashed helicopter that had housed Fury, completely unconcerned if his boss was still alive.
"You are impressive, Son of Gray." Loki turned his head to look at his servant properly as they made their escape. However, the man caused a small tinge of worry. He had not expected Midgard to boast warriors as skilled as this. "Tell me, are there more like you in this realm?"
Grayson didn't respond immediately causing Loki's eyes to narrow; as Grayson's cold emotionless eyes just turned from Loki and looked out towards the horizon.
"There were a few once," Dick's voice was barely above a whisper and there was a flicker of something raw and deep in his eyes but only for a second "...now only one,"
(Iceberg Lounge - Gotham City -May 2nd, 2012)
"Will that be all?" The waitress laid the drinks on the table, trying her best to avoid the very handsy man she had been forced to serve all night.
Her eyes darted to the two very young women placed on either side of the handsy man, although calling the girls women was being very generous, neither looked older than nineteen. If she thought it would make a difference, she would have refused to serve the table and told her manager about the girls, but this was the Iceberg Lounge. Getting in here was nearly impossible, but once you did, no one checked what you were doing, underage drinking was nothing, she had seen worse, usually from the man she was serving. As she laid the last bottle on the table, she made a point not to make eye contact with the man lounging in the semi-circular booth or with his guest sitting across from him awkwardly on a barstool he had dragged over.
SLAP!
The waitress resisted throwing a drink in the man's face as she felt his hand slap her on her rear, although the stinging on her cheek did cause her smile to falter. She saw the two girls wince at both the vulgar act and at the fact that the man hadn't released them from his arms, so he had pulled them over to slap her. As she stood up straight, she caught her manager's eye and gave a small shake of her head, although she wasn't happy, she could deal with the jerk for a few more minutes her shift was almost over, and it wasn't worth the scene.
"For now, sweet cheeks." Bruce gave the waitresses his best sleazy smile "But be back soon, okay? I might want to know when you get off shift"
"Of course," The waitress gave a very clearly fake smile before she quickly moved away, wanting nothing more than to end her shift and have a hot shower.
Bruce kept the fake smile on his face as he kept his eyes moving to make it look like he was watching the waitress' rear end. In reality, he wasn't and he was already calculating the very large tip he was going to leave to make up for his sleazy act. As the waitress disappeared from view he turned his attention back to the man he was meeting who unlike him had been watching the retreating waitress. It took a lot to suppress the sigh that was building every second he interacted with this man. Once he had dealt with some of the worst criminals and most powerful organised crime outfits in history, now he was dealing with this.
"So, how much can you get me?" Bruce asked, leaning back as he watched the man shift his focus back to Bruce, his eyes glancing at the women he had on each arm.
"At the moment, about two or three keys. I'm sorry it's not more, but the port authorities are stubborn." The man shifted as he gulped a little, he needed to make this deal, and the man had asked him for a lot more than the measly amount his organisation had managed to smuggle in. "Is that good enough?"
"That's fine. Get it to me by next Monday, and I'll pay you double or triple if you get it to me by Friday." Bruce chuckled as he pretended to down a glass of scotch.
He kept his eye on the young man he was using to dismantle the nascent drug smuggling operation he represented. Although part of him felt disappointed that this was the calibre of criminal he now had to combat, it was only a small part of him, largely he was content that this was all that slithered from Gotham's dark underbelly these days. His disappointment was mostly due to the sheer ease at which he was dismantling the drug ring and how all he had to do was put on his old womanising, hard-partying, drug addict act and he was immediately in touch with the organisation.
"Yeah, yeah, Friday 100%" The man's awkward worry disappeared as it transformed into over-eagerness, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Good, now why don't we have a dri-" Bruce's smile and act disappeared as he saw the person over the man's shoulder that was moving swiftly towards them, he released the girls next to him and waved at everyone at his table. "Leave now,"
"Wh-what?" The man he had just struck a deal with blinked as Bruce Wayne's friendly smile and carefree nature disappeared, replaced by a coldness and steely gaze that made his breath stop.
"Leave NOW!" Bruce's command was heeded this time as the would-be drug dealer quickly left the table all but running whilst the girls he had in his arms wandered away very confused.
Bruce didn't spare them even a glance, his eyes fixed on the figure of the woman who arrived at his table, one of the few people he never thought to see in Gotham again. Barbara Gordon was dressed in a typical SHIELD suit as she rolled to a stop in front of him, her face told him everything he needed to know. He could have handled dismissing the drug dealer and the girls with more grace to keep his cover more intact but Barbara's mere presence told him the situation was bad enough the look however told him he didn't have time to waste.
"Bruce…" Barbara stopped dead, her voice barely a whisper as she met his steely blue eyes she felt her stomach drop.
"Who?" Bruce asked, leaning forward, his eyes burrowing into Barbara's as his grip on the glass in his hand turned vice-like.
"It's Dick, he's been compromised," Barbara responded she felt her breathing go heavy as she shifted under Bruce's piercing gaze "It's bad, it's really bad. Fury's calling in a team, he doesn't know I'm here but…"
"You need me," Bruce finished her sentence, knowing that if Dick was working the other side, he was possibly the only person on the planet that could stop him. "What team is he calling in? I thought Dick's White Team was suspended after the incident in Harlem where he helped hide Dr. Banner from the Army."
"Yeah they are, they are scattered across the globe, that's…..that's not the team he's calling in," Barbara took a deep breath as she glanced away from Bruce's gaze for a second. "It's the other one, the one he proposed after Carol left"
Bruce blinked at what he was hearing, his mind going blank at the sheer insanity. He knew about Fury's little Initiative, he'd been there when the man had come up with it, hell he had been part of Peggy's idea that had inspired Fury's version. He also knew it had been shot down by the World Security Council every time anyone brought it up. His latest attempt had failed spectacularly when Tony had done his whole I am Iron Man fiasco, blowing up any chance to create the kind of secret super-battalion Fury truly believed both SHIELD and the world needed.
"Just what the hell happened to make Fury that desperate?" Bruce felt the glass in his hand crack causing him to sigh and place it down, fighting back memories of what had happened to the old team.
"It's the Tesseract, it's been taken by an alien entity calling himself Loki, and he's placed both Dick and Barton under some sort of mind control," Barbara answered succinctly, knowing that the finer details Bruce would get from her later or else just find out himself. "It's caused a security nightmare, Barton is bad enough, but he was just level 7, but Dick has access to nearly everything."
"What about them?" Bruce's question caught Barbara off guard, she knew exactly who he was on about but was surprised that Bruce knew about them, Dick had spent a lot of time keeping them safe and off the radar. "Are they safe?"
"They are," Barbara felt Bruce's eyes narrow at her for a few seconds and knew if she was anyone else on the planet, he would have pressed for more information.
"Good, good" Bruce nodded before releasing a sigh and pulling his phone out of his pocket, pressing the one number he had on speed dial and then placing it next to his ear waiting only a few seconds before the line went live. "Alfred, get my evening suit prepared… no, the special one…perfect. Alfred, I need you to keep Cassandra and Damian occupied, there are no exceptions this time…It's Dick"
As Bruce hung up, Barbara saw the last remnants of the man she still begrudgingly admired disappear into the recesses of the shadow of the bat that emerged to consume Bruce Wayne in its dark wings. As he rose from his seat, rebuttoning his suit jacket, he didn't even wait for Barbara as he strode towards the front doors, the cold aura radiating off of him was enough that it dissuaded everyone from going near him. Barbara quickly moved to follow him, a small frown forming on her face at how easily she found herself falling back into her old position in Bruce's shadow. She sent up a small prayer that this time would end better than last time….it had to.
(Wayne Corp European Gala - Staatsoper, Stuttgart Germany - May 3rd 2012)
Steve shifted a little as he checked over his uniform one last time, making sure that his shield was fixed on the new magnetic vambrace SHIELD had provided. Looking at the device that would summon his shield back to him caused him to smile a little. It was almost identical to an idea Thomas and Howard had debated once, with Thomas being sceptical of how the magnets wouldn't just attract every piece of metal towards him. His smile left him as he remembered what had become of his two closest friends, Howard had died in a car accident with a wife Steve dearly wished he could have met, and Thomas…
Steve sighed at the thought of his old friend.
Thomas had been murdered along with Martha for forty bucks, and a string of pearls, not just murdered but murdered in front of their only son, Bruce Steven Wayne. He had been so touched to learn that his old friends had partly named their child after him, and according to Alfred, Thomas would have named their son Steven after him, but Martha hadn't wanted to burden their son with such heavy expectations on top of being a Wayne. He would have chuckled at Martha's constant pragmatism if he wasn't so devastated to know what had happened to her and her son.
Bruce Wayne, the name caused Steve to frown as he waited for the signal to engage once they knew for certain that Loki was here and wasn't some kind of trick. He had asked Alfred about the families of all of the Howling Commandos and was happy to learn that largely they had all had normal ordinary lives. However, when it came to the lives of Howard and Thomas' sons they had been anything but ordinary and not in a good way.
Everyone knew Tony Stark. He was a playboy who made his fortune selling weapons on a scale even Howard would have baulked at—and that was before he revealed himself as Iron Man. Steve could see only one positive side of Tony: He appeared to be mostly trying to make up for past mistakes and make the world better. However, the man still seemed to ooze arrogance, and Steve suspected a small part of being Iron Man was serving his own ego.
Bruce Wayne was an entirely different creature, which filled him with profound, deep disappointment. Alfred had painted a picture of a great man who had lived up to his parent's legacy, someone who had done everything he could to make their dreams come true and had succeeded in saving his city from the corruption that had existed even in Steve's day. However, a few hours of searching up Bruce Wayne on the Internet and the limited access he had been given to SHIELD's files painted a very different picture.
It was clear Alfred had given him a very one-sided view mwhich was understandable, the man had raised Bruce, nurtured and looked after him since his parent's death and clearly didn't want to admit the man he loved like a son was a monster. Bruce Wayne had helped 'save' Gotham with his investments and charities but that clearly was only to help cover up just how involved he had been with the crime, filth and corruption in the city. The man had ties to some of the worst people on the planet and the SHIELD records indicated that his personal hobbies would make even the most hardened criminals sick to their stomachs. Alfred had invited Steve to visit Wayne Manor and meet Bruce but he had managed to avoid answering so far, he wasn't sure he wanted to meet someone who looked so much like Thomas but had ruined his old friend's good name.
"Captain we are on," Agent Romanoff's voice caused him to snap back to attention as he saw that Loki had exited the Gala, blasted a police car and was now threatening a crowd of people. "Good luck,"
"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? 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." Loki was walking amongst the very large crowd he had forced to kneel a gleeful look on his face as if he was a kid training his puppy a new trick. "You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel"
However, Loki's gleeful smile suddenly vanished as amongst the large crowd he saw an elderly man stand up.
"Not to men like you," The man's aged face and deep eyes looked onto Loki's, not a hint of fear or hesitation in his voice.
"There are no men like me," Loki responded, forcing his confident smile back on his face as raised his head proudly.
The man just shook his head as he let out a deep sad sigh. "There are always men like you."
"...Look to your elder people," Loki's smile turned cruel as he raised his weapon the blue light of the crystal getting brighter as he did so. "Let him be an example,"
CLANG!
"AH!" Loki found himself struck backwards as in a blur a man wielding a shield appeared between him and the man.
"You know the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing" Captain America's appearance caused the crowd to start rising to his feet with many taking the opportunity to leave the area.
"The soldier" Loki's smile only widened as he got back to his feet looking at the man dressed in blue, white and red "The man out of time,"
"I'm not the one out of time" Steve fixed Loki with a hard stare as he heard the Quinjet decloak behind him its weapon systems roaring to life as well.
"Loki, stand down and surrender your weapon," Agent Romanoff's voice sounded out as she held the craft in the air just behind Steve.
Loki seemed almost disappointed as he suddenly raised his weapon and sent a blast towards the aircraft that only just avoided it. Steve had to raise his shield as the green-dressed self-declared god suddenly charged at him, he reacted quickly striking the man with a throw of his shield to his chest. Steve frowned as the shield made contact and then came back but did nothing to slow Loki down. The two then engaged in a brutal hand-to-hand fight at blinding speeds, Steve quickly found that he had the advantage clearly being the more skilled of the two in this type of fight.
He managed to land about half a dozen blows both with his shield and with his fits, but discovered that apart from a slightly annoyed grunt his strikes did nothing. He managed to avoid Loki's insanely fast blows only due to how sloppy they delivered, they were wide and sweeping instead of precise and targeted. He wasn't sure if Loki was merely playing with him or if the man had just never fought anyone that he needed to actually try to hit due to how fast he was. However, even the sloppy strikes eventually found their mark due to how fast they were being thrown, Steve found himself struck hard in the chest and knocked to the ground.
"KNEEL!" Loki roared as he placed the butt of his sceptre on the back of Steve's head.
"Not to today!" Steve managed to roll and then using his enhanced reflexes deliver a spinning kick to Loki's face that managed to push him a few steps back.
"You have courage but it's all for- UGH!" Loki just squared his shoulder as he gripped his sceptre ready to end this when suddenly he was blasted backwards as music started to roar out from every speaker system around including the Quinjet.
I'm gonna take you down
Oh, down, down, down
So, don't you fool around
I'm gonna pull it, pull it, pull the trigger
Shoot to thrill, play to kill
Too many women with too many pills, yeah
Shoot to thrill, play to kill
I got my gun at the ready, gonna fire at will, yeah
"Agent Romanoff, miss me!" Tony's voice rang out in her ear as the man himself landed in the plaza his Iron Man suit displaying every weapon it could at Loki. "Make your move Reindeer Games,"
Loki who had pushed himself up so that he was now sat upright on the floor his sceptre laying next to him just raised his hands up in surrender. A green light shimmered over him changing from the grand outfit he was wearing with his horned helmet to a much simpler one. The act caused Tony to lower his weapons and give himself a smirk inside his suit.
"Good move," Tony then turned his head to look at the living legend that had retrieved his shield and moved next to him. "Captain,"
"Mr Stark," Steve's breath was slightly heavy as he narrowed his eyes at Loki a troubling feeling starting to form in the pit of his stomach.
(Quinjet - Somewhere over central France - Midnight, May 3rd 2012)
"Has he said anything?" Fury's voice sounded out only to Natasha who was piloting the craft towards the Hellicarrier that was waiting over the Atlantic.
"Not a word." Nat gripped the controls as she tried not to focus on the tension that was only growing in her stomach "Any word on Barton or Grayson"
"Just get him here. We're low on time." Fury's blunt statement nearly caused her to shoot back at her boss but her professionalism managed to keep her from saying anything, knowing Fury's lack of statement meant something bad must have happened.
Steve's eyes glanced at Loki who was locked into the most sophisticated pair of handcuffs Steve had ever seen, they looked like two massive black boxes that covered not just the hands but also the forearms as well. The man wasn't moving not that he really could he had also been tied to his seat and the cuffs were all but bolted to the floor. However, even with the man supposedly immobilised Steve couldn't shift the feeling in his chest that something was wrong.
"I don't like it." Steve finally voiced his concern as he looked at Tony who was still in his armour minus the helmet.
"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony remarked crossing his arms as he not so subtly looked at Loki.
"I don't remember it being ever that easy. This guy packs a wallop." Steve's eyes shifted back to Loki who currently looked like he was sleeping or mediating his eyes completely closed.
"Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?" Tony's sudden humour and smile caused Steve to blink as he just looked at the man.
"What?" Steve was completely lost now as he just raised an eyebrow at Tony.
"It's like callisthenics" Tony took a deep breath and let out a yawn as all of this was boring him as he then looked back to the man his father had never shut up about. "You might have missed a couple of things, you know, during your time as a Capsicle."
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve ignored the man's joke and yawn although his eyes narrowed at him now, as he tried to refocus them on the task at hand.
"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Tony just looked away from Steve his voice had lost it's jovial nature and now had an edge that Steve didn't miss.
However, as he opened his mouth to reply the jet suddenly shook violently as a bolt of lightning barely missed them and rain suddenly started to hammer the windscreen. The sound of thunder started blasting around them and Nat felt she suddenly had to grip the controls incredibly tight to keep them level.
"Where's this coming from?" Romanoff suddenly started to press multiple switches and checked her radar system that had shown nothing but clear skies showed they were suddenly in the middle of one of the wrost strom in history.
As thunder rumbled overhead, Steve noticed Loki's eyes were now open and was staring as best he could out the window next to him.
"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve moved towards the man followed by Tony both gripping the handrails to stay upright.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows" Loki replied calmly before his head suddenly snapped towards the cargo door which suddenly opened creating a vortex of wind inside the aircraft, causing Tony to don his helmet and Steve his shield.
.
Before anyone could react a massively tall and broad figure wielding a hammer appeared and ripped Loki from his seat. Loki grunted in pain as he was being pulled by the throat and the hammer-wielding man was not being gentle. Tony moved to intercept them but found himself floored by a strike to his chest as the figure and Loki suddenly flew back into the night.
"GREAT! Now there's that guy." Tony snarled as he got up and quickly checked his suit for damage before striding towards the open cargo ramp.
"Another Asgardian?" Nat cried out as she kept the quinjet level and tried to regain control of its systems
"Think the guy's a friendly? He didn't seem to like Loki?" Steve pulled on his own headgear as he looked from Romanoff to Stark.
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony didn't stop in his approach to the ramp turns and it was clear he was about to jump off the jet to pursue Loki.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve cried out as he quickly grabbed a parachute already knowing that Stark wasn't going to wait.
"I have a plan. Attack." Tony's reply came as he just lept out the quinjet and blasted off into the night.
"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Nat's statement was made with no real effort to convince him to stay as finally managed to regain complete control of the craft but left the cargo ramp down for the moment. "These guys come from legends, they're basically gods
"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Steve gave his reply as he took a deep breath before he too leapt out of the craft.
The cold brutal air, rain and sound of thunder greeted him as he hurtled towards the ground, he didn't open his shoot until he spotted where Tony had headed. It wasn't difficult to spot, part of the forest they were above was on fire and Steve could see Tony and the figure who had taken Loki fighting below him, neither were pulling any punches. He cast a glance around and saw Loki was seated on a large rock on a ridge watching the battle raging below him, Steve grimaced as he pulled the cord of his parachute. He had to stop the fight then he could deal with rescuing Loki, who he hoped wouldn't take the chance to escape while his captors were distracted.
Loki for his part was smiling watching his idiot brother fight the Midgardian fool who thought himself a savoir all because he had forged some pathetic armour. Truly his conquest of this world would be a trifle even with Thor here. He had been worried upon encountering the Son of Gray but this world truly held no one who co-
"Most impressive," Loki wheeled around as he met the unblinking gaze of the dark figure who was standing behind him. "...Most impressive indeed. So your the Knight,"
"Where is he?" Batman's harsh deep voice sounded out as he moved forward to stand next to Loki to look at the fight raging below.
"Interesting my brother and the others were concerned with the Tesseract but not you?" Loki shifted as he saw the solider arrive and end the fight between Thor and Iron Man just as it was getting good. "I don't know, truly I don't. I've sent him off with the cube I know not where but if I have assessed the Son of Gray right…it's going to be glorious"
"If you hurt him, I will break you." Batman suddenly lifted Loki up managing to lift him high enough his feet were now dangling off of the floor. "Understand?!"
"Oh this is going to be fun," Loki just chuckled a mad jovial glint in his eye as he just smiled at the Batman's threat.
Bruce tightened his grip on the man but as he made to make another threat, he needed to push to see how Loki reacted that would give him a baseline to work from. However, before he could push further he heard a voice sound out behind him.
"Who are you?" Steve lifted his shield cautiously as he looked at the looming figure in black who looked like a bat, as he turned he could see his armour was metallic and his cloak although jet back seemed to shimmer slightly.
"You really?!" Steve snapped his head to the side as Tony and Thor arrived, the statement was Tony who even in his Iron Man suit could be seen shaking his head.
"You know him?" Steve glanced back at the tall boarded shouldered man who was still holding Loki easily off of the ground.
"Yeah he keeps showing up when stuff gets weird, I shouldn't be surprised alien gods and magic cubes are about as weird as it gets." Tony just sighed, hoping this wasn't going to get even weirder now that the man dressed as a flying rodent was getting involved "He's apparently one of the good ones, Pepper says he's called the Batman, he's from Gotham"
"Sir I'm going to need you to put him down," Steve relaxed but only slightly his eyes glancing at Thor whose grip on his hammer was getting tighter the longer this Batman was holding Loki aloft.
THUD!
Batman unceremoniously dropped Loki to the floor his eyes never leaving Steve's as he subtly brought his hand back into the folds of his long following cape. As he did so Steve's eyes snapped up as an aircraft he hadn't noticed before suddenly appeared floating above them, it was the same jet black as the Batman's armour and was shaped like a bat as well.
"I'll meet you at the Hellicarrier, well sort this out there captain." Batman didn't wait for a reply as he lifted one hand upwards shooting a cable that attached to his jet that pulled him upwards into the jet that then disappeared into the night.
"So people dress as Bats now?" Steve finally spoke after a few seconds at looking at the black night sky which was still filled with thundering clouds.
"Only one and he's a crazy nutjob from Gotham," Tony replied as he moved forward to take Loki's arm to drag him back to their own jet he was signalling
"Ha! Of course, you think that Tinkerer" Loki's dark chuckle caused Tony to pause and all three men present to look at him with narrowed eyes. "To stand in the shadow of someone who embraced truth, perhaps he's not the mad one but all of you….oh yes this is going to be fun,"