Spontaneity
The Beauty of the unexpected lies within the surprise of the momentum, not only at its tipping point, but also within all the moments waiting.
-Akilnathan Logeswaran
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Chapter 3: Spontaneity
The flight to Germany was shorter than expected with the speed of the Quinjet. In only a few hours I made it to the city of Stuttgart just as Clint had said. Somewhere inside myself there was doubt, wondering, still, if the burn could be proof of something so ludicrous but it was my only chance to do something about the situation myself.
I landed the Quinjet atop a building near the location smoothly and quietly in stealth mode. Exiting I saw that it was the late evening due to the time zone difference.
The GPS system had said that the Kõnigstrasse hall was not far away. Scanning in all directions and seeing a tall building with a spire I assumed the building was a fitting place to hold a gala and began the hurtling of rooftops.
(3rd POV)
Steve Rogers stood next to agent Phil Coulson on the Helicarrier main deck, awaiting progress in the search for the Tesseract and the god named Loki.
“I uh, I have some trading cards of you.” Coulson said hesitantly.
Steve looked over at him briefly, as if making sure that he had been talking to him before facing forward again.
“Oh really?” he said, seeming somewhat taken aback.
“I’ve been collecting them for years. I finally have the complete set.” Coulson said, turning to the man beside him with controlled excitement.
“I was uh…wondering if you could sign them.” He added, looking away nervously.
Steve looked over to him again and then back towards the open control room.
“Sure.” He responded simply.
Agent Coulson’s smile spread widely, keeping his excitement contained.
“I mean…if it’s not too much trouble.” He added.
“No, no. It’s fine.” Steve said shaking his head as his gaze remained forward.
Coulson smiled as if to himself and there was a moment of silence between the two.
“It’s a vintage set.” He began, pausing again.
“Near mint. Slight foxing around the edges but—“
“We got a hit. 67% match!” agent Sitwell called from his position at one of the computers along the side of the room.
Director Fury, agent Coulson, and Steve Rogers all turned upon hearing this, Steve proceeding across the platform to get a better look.
“Wait, cross match. 79%” Sitwell added.
“Location?” Agent Coulson asked, coming up beside Steve.
“Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Kõnigsrasse.” Agent Sitwell responded, turning back to the screen as the satellite pinpointed his exact location and pulled up a live image of Loki at the stated location.
“He’s not exactly hiding.” He added, seeing him walking around among the public.
“Captain.” Director Fury called to him, causing Steve to turn to him.
“You’re up.” He said simply, his one eye locked on Steve with seriousness.
Steve stared at the director for a moment before nodding and taking off to get ready for battle. Agent Coulson had informed him where his uniform would be kept and as he headed to that location he passed the hall where he had taken Agent Muse earlier and stopped, briefly, turning and looking down the hallway wondering how she was doing.
Knocking on the door to her room, he received no answer and quietly opened it, peeking in to see if she was alright. To his surprise she wasn't there. Assuming that she’d recuperated and left he proceeded to his destination. After suiting up he headed to the landing deck where several agents were in a frenzy.
“One of the Quinjets is missing!” He heard one of them exclaim.
“We have a logged takeoff over 3 hours ago!” came the voice of another.
Steve thought back to when he’d taken Agent Muse to rest a few hours ago, suddenly realizing what she had done, looking out to the sky beyond the landing deck.
“Oh no…” He said under his breath.
(Agent Muse POV)
The Kõnigstrasse hall was a rather large and ornate building, a splendid piece of architecture. Beige colored bricks with immaculate designs carved into the surface of the stone archways around the large windows. From the roof I could see many opulent people below, entering the building along red carpets in lavish attire.
So far the vision I’d had was right. There was an event being held in the location that Barton had mentioned. I looked down to the burn on my hand for assurance, seeing it still there I clenched my fist and looked down from the top of the building. I scanned the crowd outside in the courtyard, looking for suspicious activity, seeing only a mass of well-dressed people. As the sounds of the cars pulling up in the drive at the front of the building and the chattering people pouring in rose into the air around me, I spotted a familiar glow in the courtyard. My eyes widened then as I saw the familiar features of the man who stole the Tesseract.
My muscles tightened at the sight of him, dressed in seemingly uncharacteristic clothes. He wore a surprisingly sharp, fitted black suit with a long jacket atop a white dress shirt, complete with a black tie and a green and gold woven scarf hung loosely around his neck. He looked utterly different from the man I had seen the other night but though his polished visage had changed, the puckish expression he held revealed his true persona.
He scanned the area nonchalantly as I watched him, proceeding in with the crowd of wealthy people. I cursed him under my breath as he disappeared within the doors beneath me, knowing that I would have to find a way to follow him without revealing myself.
I darted across the roof, searching for an entrance, surprised that I had not run into any form of security at such an important place when I heard something shooting through the air, followed by a grunt and some thuds. I snapped my head in the direction of the sound as my hand went to my knives but I saw nothing. Curious I cautiously headed over to the side of the building where I’d heard it and abruptly saw a security guard sniped with an arrow, sending him toppling off of the roof in the next instant. After a moment the type of weapon processed; an arrow. All at once I knew who had shot him.
I advanced over to the side of the building where the man had fallen and pressed my back against the ledge, crouching before I slowly peeked over the side. Just as I had suspected I saw Clint and some other military men like I had seen in my vision accompanying him. Two security guards lay dead on the ground, the one that had fallen off face down in a pool of blood. I quietly watched their movements for a few seconds as they unpacked what appeared to be S.H.I.E.L.D. technology and hooked it up to the door when suddenly Clint drew his bow and pointed it in my direction. For the first instant it didn’t process that it was aimed at me because he didn’t turn his head but as he released it and the arrow flew towards me I pulled out of the way as quickly as I could, though the arrow grazed the side of my arm, tearing the flesh wide open.
I dropped down behind the ledge, slapping a hand over my arm to hold the blood in and grunting in pain. Looking over to my arm and removing my hand to see the wound I observed that it was deep, a chunk missing from my right deltoid muscle as the blood poured freely from the gash, covering my opposite hand. I growled, quickly reaching down to grab some bandages from my thigh pouch when suddenly I heard the clang of metal to my side. Turning my head I saw that three of the men with Clint had climbed up a ladder, further down along the roof and were approaching me. I quickly bandaged my arm, standing as I finished, the men only a few feet away.
The first barreled towards me and I locked into my stance waiting for him, observing that he did not have the same glowing blue eyes as Clint, therefore deducing that he was not under mind control and still meant to kill me: I had the clear not to hold back.
As he went to grab me, I cut to his side, throwing the roll of bandages over his opposite shoulder as I held onto the unrolled end, and ran around to his back. Grabbing the other end in midair as it flew over his shoulder, I twisted the two ends together so that they were tight, choking him as I pulled him to the ground. I crouched slightly, leaning back and anchoring myself down for more resistance against the man’s superior force. Hearing the two other men come up behind me, the first still choking and trying to pull forwards, I took both ends of the bandages into my left hand, wedging the elbow of the same arm under and around the bandages and pulled my elbow back, causing the man to be pulled back towards me. In that same moment I ripped out a knife with my other hand and slit his throat. Whipping myself around towards the other two men, I used the force of the turn to send the first one flying towards them, his blood pouring out all around. They stepped back to avoid colliding with his body, looking down at their pale faced comrade before looking back up to me as I pulled out another knife.
“One down.” I stated, smirking at them.
Angered they charged at me, one punching toward my face as I ducked, spinning around under his arm so that my back was facing him, and stabbing him in the gut behind me with my right hand. With the other I reached up and grabbed his wrist, manipulating his weight by pulling him forward so that he bent over me, I hiked my back up into his rib cage, knocking the breath out of him as I grabbed his arm with both hands, cringing as I felt the arrow wound sting and pulled him over my back, flipping him onto the ground messily and grabbing my arm the instant after.
As he fell onto his back the other man was next to me in a minute. Bringing my arms up to block his attack I noticed the other man getting to his feet, holding his fresh wound. The one in front of me threw another punch and I leaned to the right, my arms still up to block. As he threw the third the man I had stabbed came up behind me and I ducked, allowing the man in front of me to punch the one behind me. As he stumbled back I slipped out from between them, flipping backwards twice to make distance. After a quick recovery they both flew at me, the one I had stabbed going straight for retaliation, having grabbed a knife and beginning to swing at me. I back stepped with each swing, then dove under his arm, driving my fist into his stomach and reaching behind me to catch the knife as he dropped into my hand. I then immediately stood, punching him straight under the jaw and sending him tumbling backwards. Hearing the other man approach behind me, I turned swiftly, ready to slice at him with my injured arm before a surge of pain shot up to the wound. As I cringed at the pain the man grabbed by arm sending the knife flying out of my hand and he pulled me against him, securing his hands around my arms, holding them at my sides.
The other man regained himself as he stood back up and turned, a smile forming on his face as he saw that his partner had caught me. I let them think they had the upper hand, waiting until the right moment as the other man came up in front of me. I struggled enough to convince them that they had me but as the other man came to a stop in front of me and immediately I threw my legs up in front of me, kicking the other man swiftly under the chin. He fell over as my legs continued back behind my captors head, his arms loosening as I slipped down low enough to give myself the room to wedge his head between my knees, squeezing and crushing his skull as he let go of my arms I hung upside down in front of him, holding myself up by my knees as I continued to crush his head in between them. Then I grabbed a knife out of my pack and sliced his gut wide open. I then reached down to the ground, placing my hands firmly and letting all of my weight fall back, sending his head directly into the ground as I flipped and landed on my back. I stood up rushing over to the other man as he went to get up and kicked him hard in the side of his head, knocking him out fully. Taking proper care, I took out my dagger and flipped him onto his back, plunging the blade in and running it down his spine.
I stood, replacing my dagger and wiping my face.
“Don’t get up.” I stated sarcastically as I stepped on his head and walked passed him, gripping the arrow wound and catching sight of a large dome of windows in the center of the roof.
Coming up to the dome I began to hear an enchanting violin melody coming from inside, gripping my arm tightly through the bandages and trying to stop the bleeding. I stood, looking down into an elaborate room, filled with the same finely dressed people that had entered the building. I scanned the room, looking for the blue glow of his staff when suddenly there was movement on the balcony just below me. I crouched down, watching as Loki slowly paced along the railing, looking out over the room. I glared down at him maliciously, wishing that for just a moment looks could kill.
I cursed the fact that I couldn’t find another way in, watching him closely as he raised his staff slightly and shifted it in front of him. He began descending the steps and I clenched my fists, ready for him to make his move as I observed his smooth yet reserved steps. Reaching the bottom of the steps, he strode calmly up next to a security guard, flipping his staff in the air and catching it by the shaft as the guard caught sight of him, going to make a move as Loki slammed the head of the staff into his skull, knocking him out instantly and receiving gasps from the patrons. The man who had been giving the speech turned around with alarm as Loki came up on him quickly, grabbing him by the neck and dragging him across the room to an ornate marble table where he quickly flipped him over completely with inhuman strength as I quickly leapt down onto the dome, crashing through the glass and falling with it, earning more screams from the crowd.
As I landed Loki pulled out a strange pronged device and paused for a moment, turning his attention to me as the crowd cleared out the area around me to avoid the glass. His expression was of controlled surprise in that moment as I stood, small pieces of glass falling off of me as we locked eyes through the frenzy of screaming people. Not faltering for a moment, he simply smirked and pressed a button, releasing blades on the device. I shot forward in a flash as he brought the device down towards the man’s face, in a single instant analyzing the situation. One of his hands was occupied holding the staff down to the side and unprepared to attack at my speed and the other holding the device; He had no arms to attack or defend with. I leapt onto the table between Loki and the man, throwing my forearm up and blocking the motion causing controlled shock to display on his features as I smirked with absolute pleasure bringing my other arm up and driving all of my power into one punch, landing him in the face.
He let out a grunt flying back as my eyes widened, shocked at my own strength and looking down at my fist for a moment in confusion before turning my attention back to the situation at hand. I took the momentary opportunity to help the man, who I had deduced was Dr. Schafer up from under me, feeling immense pride for the hit I had landed on Loki though it abruptly came to a halt as I began to feel pain spread throughout my body, my head beginning to pound again. I helped the Dr. up to the best of my ability, though his age and my pain didn’t make for a speedy ascent but I managed to get him to his feet. Cringing at the throbbing of my head I turned to the crowd, yelling at them with what little German I knew.
“JEDER HIER RAUS JETZT! LAUFEN! AUSSTEIGEN, GEHEN! ALLE! ALLE!” I yelled as I stood the Dr. up and slowly got down off of the platform and motioned to the doors with my free hand.
Suddenly I was grabbed from behind, feeling a large hand gripping the nape of my neck and I was flung backwards into a pillar, hitting it hard and sliding to the ground. Slowly I opened my eyes, trying to sit up, hindered by the pain in my back from the impact against the pillar as well as the spontaneous pain that filled my body much like in the Tesseract chamber. Loki slammed the man’s head back down into the table, shoving the device into his eye as the man’s screams filled the room causing everyone to panic more and clear out. As Loki stood, watching them run, grinding the man’s eye away into nothing, I fought to stand unable to understand why I was in so much pain.
Finishing the man off, and retracting the device back into his pocket, Loki looked around at the scattered people fleeing from the room and smirked gleefully as if to himself before turning back to me. Growling in rage, that he had killed another person, and even more so that I had let yet another person die in front of me uselessly, I watched him round the table heading towards me. I glared at him as he approached, reaching for one of my knives as the pain seemed to grow worse with each step he took towards me. Just as I pulled the knife out and got to my knees, still unstable, he reached down, grabbing me by the shirt and lifting me off of the ground as if it were nothing and slamming me back into the pillar causing me to drop my knife.
“We meet again.” He stated, smirking as if enjoying my pain.
“Gets more unpleasant every time.” I added, gripping his arm with one hand and reaching for another blade slowly with my injured arm.
His smirk widened at my comment as I gripped hold of my knife. I forced the blade forward at him but to my surprise he knocked the knife out of my hand with his staff. My arm fell limply to my side as I fought for strength, the blue light of the stone at the head of his staff glowing while I continued to grip his arm, attempting desperately to pull his hand away.
“I was surprised to find that you had survived the previous night.”
“I’m surprised you’re going for the scarf look. A little ostentatious, don’t you think?” I choked out sarcastically.
He smirked bitterly at this.
“Indulge my curiosity mortal, how is it that you still live?”
“Luck.” I spat.
He chuckled maliciously.
“Then come.” He began, peeling me away from the wall.
“Let us test your luck again.”
He abruptly turned, throwing me violently toward the table. Crashing into it, my back hit the ledge as I felt a sickening crack.
“GAAHH!!” I screeched, falling forwards on my hands and knees, barely able to hold myself up as the pain cut off my speech, now only quiet sounds escaping my lips.
He approached me at a casual speed, his scarf and coat swaying slightly with each step. I looked up to the best of my ability as my arms shook, threatening to give out, eyeing him as he leaned down and outstretched his hand towards me, grabbing me by the jaw and hoisting me up before slamming me back onto the table. I grabbed his hand, cringing at the blow to my already injured back as I looked over at the now motionless and one-eyed corpse of Dr. Schafer who laid beside me, then back up to Loki. Holding me down with one hand and partially cutting off my oxygen I saw that his staff seemed to change into the spear I had seen the previous night right before my eyes. I tried to kick him but the damage to my spine caused a sharp pain with every movement at the angle he had me pressed against the table, rendering my legs nearly useless as they scraped along the side of the table in an attempt to push myself up and away from him to no avail.
"And let us also put to test your mind."
He moved the spear towards my chest just as he did before in the underground Tesseract chamber. Time seemed to slow down for those few seconds as the spear came closer to me and as it did the pain seemed to worsen and the blue glow from the stone at it's head seemed to grow brighter until it was all that I could see and I felt my body jolt violently against the table. In the next moment I felt myself sliding off of the table and onto the ground, my hand shooting up to my throat as I caught my breath. Realizing that I had been released my vision faded back to normal slowly as I looked around with blurred vision to see Loki standing only a few feet away from me and staring at me with wide eyes. I reached up to the ledge of the table and pulled myself up to my feet, feeling less pain in my spine and finding it easier to stand when suddenly my head began to pound again, causing my legs to weaken and reverse what progress I had made as it forced me back to my knees. With one hand I grabbed my head in pain and looked over to Loki, seeing him approach with a look of bewilderment on his face.
"How is it possible..." He trailed off.
As he came within my reach I took the opportunity of his momentary confusion, grabbing hold of his tie and yanking him down to the ground beside me, moving and allowing myself to roll on my side next to him, slamming my elbow into his chest with one arm and pulling on his tie to choke him with the other. Letting out an almost inaudible grunt he recovered quickly, the tie suddenly disappearing from my grasp and fading away as I looked over, seeing his clothing change in a dim golden glow. In a moment he had sat up, in the same clothing I had first seen him in along with a horned helmet, golden armor and a dark green cape, catching me by the throat and lifting me off of my feet as I felt the pain return.
“You would do well as an example.” He growled, holding my face at a threatening distance from his as I brought my hands up to his arm in reflex—the last few people clearing out of the room.
Unable to protest, choking from his grip and having wasted the last of my strength, my arms resided limply to my sides as he lowered me to the ground, shifting his grip so that he was only holding onto the collar of my jacket. He turned to the doors that the civilians had fled from and began dragging me behind him, the glass shards from my earlier fall cutting into me as I was pulled across them.
As he pulled me along helplessly my eyes shifted to the blue stone at the head of his scepter, watching the glow flicker almost un-noticably. It seemed that the pain worsened the closer it was to me, almost as if it was the source of my pain. I thought about how the Tesseract caused me pain and that it was possible that the stone in Loki's spear and the Tesseract were of the same power, and that both of them had the same affect on me. It was then that I realized I had made a horrible mistake in coming after him.
Exiting the doors the, screams of the patrons who attended the gala filled the air as I tried desperately to muster enough strength to release myself from his grip, but to no avail. As he continued dragging me along the red carpet as the final few people ran across the street, I heard sirens and glanced over to see an approaching German police car, speeding around the corner. Loki began crossing the street toward the courtyard where most of the people now scrambled, nonchalantly looking over to the police car and shooting it with the spear. My head began to pound as the blue light shot from it, sending the car flipping onto its hood and sliding to a stop. This seemed only to confirm my theory that the stone within his spear caused me pain.
“Kneel before me.” I heard Loki speak from above me as he proceeded into the courtyard.
Looking forward I was able to see the crowd of frantic people turn back in towards themselves by what appeared to be copies of Loki, all standing like sentinels around the courtyard, blocking them into the small area. He came to a stop at the top of some shallow steps.
“I said…” he began in a low tone, pounding the end of his scepter into the ground causing a simultaneous burst of blue light from each of the clones scepters as well as his own.
“KNEEEEEEL!” He roared at the top of his lungs.
The people all froze, looking to him with eyes alit in fear before hesitantly getting to their knees and doing as he said. I groaned lightly in pain, placing my hands on the ground and trying to pull myself away from him as he held me up like a child held a doll.
“No…” I stated almost inaudibly.
Suddenly I was yanked to my knees in front of him his grip quickly shifting to my hair before I fell forwards, pulling my chin up so that I could just barely see his face.
“You see your hero before you, broken and weak. An example should you feel the ripening courage to resist.” He finished with a spiteful tone, tossing me to the ground beside him like a defective toy.
“But is this not simpler?” he asked, beginning to descend the few steps as I watched, motionless, my face pressed against the evenly lain brick on the ground.
“Is this not your natural state?” he outstretched his arms as if giving a noble speech.
“It is the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation.” I glared at him, my fingers only managing a pitiful twitch when I attempted to move, his arrogance sickening.
“The blind lure of freedom, diminishing your life’s joy in a mad, scramble for power.” He clenched his fist in front of him passionately as he proceeded through the mass of people, paving through them as if they were mere stones at his feet.
“You were made to be ruled.”
I exhaled sharply as I unintentionally blew a strand of hair from my face, disproving of his words. I desperately wanted to shut him up, to pummel him into the ground and make him taste cold steel for speaking so condescendingly to the people before him. Though I was put somewhat at ease by the fact that he spoke to them in English and as Germans they would likely not be able to understand his inane drivel.
“In the end...” he began, holding his scepter upright in his hand.
“You will always kneel.”
He stopped then, looking about the crowd in satisfaction when suddenly a form rose from the crowd; an old man.
“Not to men like you.” He stated in a thick German accent, obviously struggling with his English.
I both admired his bravery and cursed it, knowing it would be his end. My suspicion was confirmed as Loki turned to him.
“There are no men like me.” Loki stated vainly.
The elderly German man looked upon him knowingly with wise, aged eyes.
“There are always men like you.”
“Look to your elder people.” Loki began, lifting the spear and pointing it at the old man. I could hear the derision in his voice.
“No.” I growled, scraping at the ground with my fingernails and straining my muscles.
“Let him be an example.” He said, sending a bolt of blue light toward the man.
“No!” I screeched through tight teeth, closing my eyes, unable to watch another die because of my failure.
Hearing the clanging of metal and a grunt from Loki I re-opened my eyes, shocked to see Steve dawning his full Captain America suit. He had protected the man with his shield.
“You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing.” He stated standing tall I the sea of people driving some of them to stand out of curiosity.
My eyes wandered unable to see Loki until I spotted him on the ground, pushing himself to his feet.
“The Soldier.” He began, regaining his feet.
“The man out of time.”
“I’m not the one out of time.” Steve replied.
It was then that I saw the Quinjet hovering in the sky near the courtyard, suddenly feeling immensely embarrassed and idiotic laying there helplessly.
“Loki drop the scepter and stand down.” I could scarcely make out Natasha’s voice over the intercom of the jet.
For a moment there was no movement and in the next Loki shot at the jet with his scepter, my vision beginning to blur as the pain worsened and all sound faded into white noise. I fought for consciousness as the faint shapes of Steve and Loki engaged in battle and the fleeing people scrambling around, some occasionally stumbling into me, faded. The blue glow of the gem seemed to stand out among all of it as everything grew dark and my vision faded to black.
(3rd POV)
Agent Romanoff watched the famed Captain America and the Asgardian God fight in the German courtyard, trying to get a steady lock on Loki without risk of harming anyone else.
“The guy’s all over the place.” She stated, her eyes darting along to keep up with him when suddenly the display screen began flashing that the audio had been hacked.
“Agent, Romanoff.” The voice of Billionaire Tony Stark was heard as quiet rock music grew louder by the second.
“Miss me?” he asked as Iron man flew passed the Quinjet to the theme of ACDC’s shoot to thrill, causing agent Romanoff to smirk to herself.
In mid-swing, Loki was suddenly blown back by the blast of Iron man’s arc blaster as the metal man landed next to Captain America. Flying back into the steps, just in front of agent Muse’s unconscious body he grunted, looking up to the new contender.
“Make your move reindeer games.” Iron man demanded, referring smugly to Loki’s horned helmet as he deployed several weapons visibly on his suit.
Loki glared at them calmly, slowly lifting his hands in surrender as his armor faded.
“Good move.” Tony remarked, his weapons disappearing into his armor.
Captain America was silent for a moment, looking down at Loki in disbelief.
“Mr. Stark.” He stated simply in greeting.
“Cap’n.” Tony responded simply.
The Quinjet landed in the courtyard as Captain America and Iron man, escorted Loki onto the ship. Steve returned, looking down at agent Muse’s limp and injured body, his eyes full of remorse as he picked her up, one arm slipping behind her knees and the other supporting her back, feeling a bulging vertebrae.
“This wasn’t what I meant when I said to do what you can…” he stated reluctantly as if she could hear him and he boarded the jet to return to the Helicarrier.
(Agent Muse POV)
Color slowly flowed back into my vision as I regained consciousness. No longer feeling the rough brick under me I realized that I was laying on something quite soft as a low hum resonated in my ears and my vision cleared. I stared ahead for a moment before processing the form of Loki directly in front of me.
I immediately sat up, gasping, followed by an immense sting of pain that sent me falling to the ground.
“Muse!”
Suddenly Steve was above me, kneeling down to help me up.
“Take it easy, you’re safe now.”
As he placed a hand to my back I inhaled quickly, feeling a sharp pain. Gently he shifted his hand, sitting me down on what I realized was a row of seats within the rear of a Quinjet as I looked over at Loki who was shackled and belted to his seat, staring at me in silence. I gripped my injured arm in pain as his eyes bore into mine, his face expressionless as Steve got my attention.
“Are you alright?” he asked, kneeling down in front of me.
I broke my stare with Loki, quickly looking down to Steve, answerless and glancing back to Loki in confusion before looking back to him, responding.
“I…yeah.” I stated, lying blatantly.
My back was engulfed in pain, and with every movement a sharp sting shot up my spine.
“Who is this kid anyway?” a voice came from my left.
As I looked over I was shocked to see the famous billionaire.
“Tony Stark?” I asked as if to myself, forgetting his question.
“She’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.” I heard Natasha’s voice from the front of the ship.
“Who just broke S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol.” I shrunk back into my seat, trying to avoid being seen by her.
“Whoa, hold on a second.” Tony began walking over next to Steve and pointing at me.
“She’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent? You’ve gotta be kidding I mean what are you twelve?”
I felt my face twitch slightly in irritation.
"I'm fifteen." I stated.
"Oh that makes all the difference." He replied sarcastically.
"This is what the super secret spy agency has reduced themselves to? A weird looking kid? What were they thinking sending her in there? They should have known she's get destroyed."
I glared at him, ready for a retort when Natasha interrupted.
"We didn't send her in. She stole a jet that she's not even authorized to fly and came on her own." I could feel the verbal darts she was throwing hitting me one by one.
"Yeah..." Steve began as I looked up to him.
"How did you even know where to go? You left long before the computers found him." He said motioning to Loki who remained silent.
I stared at him for a moment before looking to my enclosed fist resting on my knee, knowing that even with the burn as proof it would be a far fetched tale.
"Because of this." I stated holding my palm up to him.
There was silence for a few moments as both Steve and Tony examined my hand.
"A burnt glove?" Tony asked.
"What are we supposed to be looking at Muse?" Steve asked.
"What?" I asked, pulling my hand back for inspection.
I stared at my hand in shock to see that the burn had disappeared.
"It's gone..." I trailed off in confusion.
"What's gone?" Tony asked.
"The burn! There was a burn here from the Tesseract!"
"What are you talking about Muse?"
I looked up to them both seeing that they were giving me looks of confusion. I sighed, shaking my head.
"It's going to sound crazy but after you took me to the room to rest I had some kind of vision where I saw Loki and his hideout. Selvig was there and so was Clint. I saw the Tesseract and tried to grab it but it burned my hand. It's the truth! The glove is proof of that!" I said holding it back up for them to see.
"The burn was there! I don't know why it's gone but it was there!"
"Besides sounding unbelievable that doesn't explain how you knew where to go." Steve said seeming somewhat doubtful.
"While I was there I overheard them talking about the gala and stealing some kind of material so I took a jet and took matters into my own hands."
They both stared at me for a few moments and I looked over to Steve, trying to determine from his expression if he believed me or not when Tony spoke up.
"Riiight. I think we can all agree that sounds crazy."
"It does sound crazy but it's the truth. I don't know why or how it happened but I knew I had to do something."
"So you went and fought gruesome over there by yourself and expected to actually beat him? cute."
I glared at him, standing and feeling a sting of pain as my spine extended and I cringed slightly, Steve reaching over to me to help me stand.
“Just sit down. You’re hurt badly.”
“No.” I replied steadfast.
“Just because I’m 15 doesn’t mean that I’m weak. Don’t you dare make assumptions about my strength Stark. I am strong.”
“Sure, then why did rock of ages here have you on a silver platter?” he asked, pointing to Loki.
“The Tesseract!” I shouted.
“What about it?” He asked skeptically.
“I’m sensitive to the radiation it and that spear give off!" I yelled pointing to the spear lain on one of the seats towards the front of the ship.
"They make me weaker but that doesn’t mean I’m not a capable fighter!”
“Yeah, it means you get beaten to a pulp by the baddie and nearly killed. I’m fully convinced.” He stated sarcastically.
“She means what she says Stark. She’s a good fighter. I would know, I trained her.” Natasha called back to him.
“She’ll give you a run for your money.”
“Oh I’d love to see that.” Tony replied, looking up towards the front of the jet.
(3rd POV)
As they continued to argue Loki listened intently, pretending not to pay attention.
"The Tesseract!" she yelled causing Loki to raise a curious brow.
"What about it?" stark encouraged.
"I'm sensitive to the radiation it gives off! It makes me weaker!" she yelled at him.
Loki's face exhibited both surprise and confusion before a smirk spread across his lips as if he’d had a revelation.
(Agent Muse POV)
“I’d love to show you.” I retorted, standing up to him when I noticed intense lightning and thunder outside of the ship.
“Where is this coming from?” Natasha asked as if to herself, flicking switches frantically.
I looked around the back of the ship in confusion, noticing Loki’s expression of surprise, his eyes locked at the ceiling.
“What’s the matter?” Steve began.
“Afraid of a little lightning?”
Loki glanced over at him for a moment, looking back up to the ceiling of the ship.
“I’m not overly fond of what follows.” He replied when suddenly a loud thud resounded from the top of the ship and it jolted violently.
Tony, Steve, and I all looked about each other when the back of the ship was abruptly ripped open revealing a large blonde man, in strange clothing and a flamboyant red cape. I had lost my balance and was now hanging onto the seat, trying to stand up again without being sucked out of the jet. Tony tried to approach him but was sent flying back by something the blonde man threw at him. The man then unlatched Loki and dragged him away out of the ship. I stared, open mouthed, not accepting that just as soon as we got him he was taken away. I acted on impulse and grabbed a parachute.
“NO!” I roared, quickly throwing my arms through the straps of the parachute pack as I ran toward the end of the jet.
“MUSE!”
“KID WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I heard the voices of Steve and Tony fade as I leapt off of the jet, diving through the air as I saw the silhouette of the Loki and the other man fall under the clouds.
(3rd POV)
"Damn stupid kid!" Tony cursed as he approached the back of the jet.
"Wait you can't just go down there without a plan! Captain America yelled after him.
"Isn't that what you should have said to little miss agent just now because unlike her I have a plan. Attack." He said as he jumped out of the jet as well.
(Agent Muse POV)
As I dove through the air I took pleasure in the moment of exhilaration. I was falling through clouds and diving through mountains. Sinking under the wall of clouds I saw the two of them land on a distant cliff and I adjusted my direction, headed towards it.