The Sword

“WHAT!” It was more of an exclamation than a question.
“We are all thinking the same thing right?” Quill said.
“That depends, Quill,” Rocket replied, “are you thinking what we are all thinking?”
“The wizards actually knew where the sword was and are actually the bad guys?”
“YES!”
“I am Groot,” said Groot.
“What did he say?” Clint asked.
“Apparently he thought we were all cheering for the fact that he discovered a Nether portal,” Rocket translated.
“”What’s a Nether Portal?” Thor inquired.
“It’s what he calls a thing in the game he’s playing.”
“That’s not important right now,” Tony intervened, “we need to talk to those wizards, now.”
“Anyone remembers where they live.” Clint asked.
“Yes," said two voices at once.

Strange. paced the room for the millionth time.
“Despite being a god you are a bad liar.”
“Well what do you expect,” Loki defended. “I told you I know nothing.”
“Then how did you get here?”
“It was by pure accident. I told you I have no control over any of this.”
“Where’d you get the sword?” Strange turned on his heel to face the cage, threatening.
“You mortals are exhausting,” Loki sighed, “you know you can’t do anything to me. I’m a god.”
“I will if you don’t answer my question.”
“I meant you wouldn’t do anything to me.”
“Yes I would.”
“Then you would have done something already.”
“You have to admit he’s right,” Tony said from behind.
“Who let you in?” Strange spun around to face the Avengers.
“The Sorcerer Supreme, who else,” Rocket replied scarcastically, “it’s not like you have a door guard.”
Strange ignored this insult. “What do you want?”
“We’re here to talk,” Stave spoke for them all.
“As you can see I’m busy,” Strange replied, gesturing towards the god of mischief in his cage.
“It’s about the sword.”
“What about it?”
“You actually did know something about the symbol, didn’t you.
“What do you mean?” Strange could not completely hide the anxiety.
“The riddle, you said that those were the words he said to you before he killed you,” Quill pressed.
Strange scoffed. “It’s just a dream. And what I know is not your business”
“We think we found something,” Tony replied.
“Stark,” Strange replied as if seeing him for the first time, “aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
“We can talk about that later,” replied the latter hurriedly brushing aside the subject, “we need to know what you know.”
“Unfortunately for you I actually don’t know anymore than you do.”
“Now look who's pleading innocence,” Loki scoffed from his cage, looking on with amusement.
“Liar,” but too late Quill could not be restrained, as he took a step towards the sorcerer, “we know you and your friend up there are in charge of this whole thing. So why are you so set on protecting it even from your friends, who are trying to help you?”
“We are not friends, and if reports are right your slate hasn’t been exactly clean.”
“So you did know what we’re up to,” Rocketed, ahhed. “He admits it and he pretended he knew nothing!”
“It’s my job as a protector of the earth to know,” Strange began. He got no further for Sam Wilson burst into the room, breathless.
“Guys I just saw something you might want to see.”
Everyone rushed out just in time to see a fast driving truck with a strange symbol vanished from sight
“That symbol’s the same one that’s on the sword,” Clint commented.
“And the same as Vashanti's ensign.” Wong muttered from behind, having just arrived through a portal.
“Why didn’t you stop them?” Wong began, “did they take anything?”
“What do you think I was doing?” Sam retorted, "I caught them on the scene.”
“And I was chasing them halfway across the world!” Wong shot back.
“We need to see the sword,” Steve put in, quickly.
Wong gave way and led the way to the library. After undoing the magic he revealed to them from thin air a four and a half foot sword with yellow and orange pointed flames engraved on either side of the hilt, through whose haft ran the silver line of a thin snake like river separated in the middle by a cavity, that looked like those that had been wrought to hold the infinity stone, but squared. And at the bottom of this cavity was a small rune of two triangles missing their horizontal lines one facing up the other facing down; identical to the picture drawn by Bucky.
“This was probably what they were after,” Wong confirmed.
“I overheard them saying something as I was checking the city for anything wrong and gave them the chase.”
“So they didn’t steal anything after all,” Quill stated, relieved. “I don’t like the way that truck looked.”
“That’s weird I saw a sword just like this just now, it was glowing in the back of the truck,” Sam announced.”
“While they couldn't have gotten to this one,” Wong began, then paused, in a moment of realization, “wait did you say it was glowing?”
“Yeah, a bright red.”